The Trio Robots
by Yorobot
Summary: Original story happening in Three-Rivers, Quebec, for the most part. The adventures of three friends who face off threats from the world of science. Follow them as they try to answer to many unanswered questions. R&R! Need 10 reviews before posting Arc 5.
1. Arc 1: Attack of the Invincible, Part 1

I own everything in this story. It is my original story, the one I advertised on my profile. I decided to shorten it to the size of a long fanfiction and post it here to have feedback. All the material here is original - if you do not count references to well-knows works of science-fiction.

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The Trio-Robots

Arc 1: Attack of the Invincible, part 1

It`s already been four months that Kevin, Michael and Batara met up. It`s been five months for Kevin and Michael however. Kevin Kartner is your average American who learned French, moved from Vermont to Quebec, because he wanted to forget about the past. As for Michael Marchand, he`s the average slightly overweight Quebecois with great imagination. As for Batara Byzlack, you might really wonder who such a character is. No problem, it will get revealed with time.

Michael was sitting on a bench in the park, when Kevin arrived on his skateboard. He was doing stunts on the skatepark not so far away. It was a sunny August of 2049. School was coming soon; not that they disliked it, but it would be Kevin`s first full year there. He followed what was left of his school year by the computer, thanks to a special program. Now he wanted to get ready for his first school year… in a French school, Sainte-Esperance High School.

Kevin jumped off his skateboard, picked it up, and sat beside Michael.

"Hey, Mike, how about we go to Batara`s for some hours? `Been a while I haven`t seen him."

"Yeah, me neither," Michael replied. "I don`t mind. Let's go." Michael jumped on his bike and Kevin stepped on his skateboard again, and they rolled at full speed to the modest house owned by the scientist.

After maybe half an hour of cycling, they arrived at the small house. Batara might be rich, he`s living simple. It was quite a small house; however it had an underground surprise, also known as Batara`s own laboratory. Batara is a scientist.

Kevin stepped off his skateboard and knocked at the door. No, there was not any special bell. After Kevin knocked a second time, someone opened the door for them. It was not Batara, but rather his servant, Fastos.

Fastos isn`t just any kind of servant; it`s Batara`s robotic servant. A metallic blue creation, probably six feet tall, with antennas hanging from the forehead. Two eyes with a distant look, as if he was always half asleep, and a mouth made of two quarters of a sphere, which only clapped like an anime character when speaking. Aside from that, Fastos had a small door on the belly; after Batara is asleep, Fastos does a few ore tasks around the house, then plugs himself in an outlet, opens the door on his belly, and turns himself off with a level inside him. Fastos has hands and feet with quite a special thing; He had small suckers on each finger and under the feet, so he could climb on walls.

"Misters Kevin and Michael," Fastos said in the robotic voice registered in his circuits. "I am sorry, but master Batara is busy at the moment."

Just then the scientist arrived from behind. He replaced his round glasses over his nose, pushed them with the index finger, and said hello.

"How are you doing, guys?" he asked. The teenagers answered positively to the question.

"What are you doing these days, Batara?" Kevin asked. Batara invited them to sit in the kitchen and told Fastos to bring them glasses of lemonade. After it was served, Batara began talking.

"Guys, I can`t really tell you about the project I am on right now, however I will be done in about a few days. All I can tell you is that it is going to be for the next robot wars."

"So it`s going to be a battle robot?" Michael asked.

"Yes. But I will not say more about it, you`ll have to come back. In two days, the robot will be complete, so come back at that time. I`m going to send you an email." And the teenagers left after a final goodbye. As the door closed behind them, Michael turned to Kevin.

"What are we gonna do until then?" the blonde asked.

"Do I seem to know?" Kevin replied. "We`re just gonna find something."

Kevin and Michael and thirteen years old. Kevin is quite tall for his age; he got brown hair, not too long and not too short, and from which two small tufts of hairs always seem to never go down. No matter how he brushes them, he always has that. He also has brown eyes. He wears a red shirt with a yellow, happy smiley on the left shoulder. He also wears jeans and Eklair shoes. As for Michael, he wears a light blue shirt with a drawing of a mountain, and beige shorts. He also wears Eklair shoes; it`s the fad. Michael has blond hair and blue eyes.

Batara was only three feet three inches tall; this was because of an accident when he was still a child. The brain cells that let the body grow stopped completely, but not the ones that let the body age. Even if he is thirty-two years old and has the functional body of this age, he is and will always be small. Batara always wears the scientist uniform; a white shirt with long sleeves and buttoned, black pants and shoelace-less shoes. He always has round glasses on the nose, and short light brown hair in short spikes all over the head. Or at least where there`s hair. He never let his beard or his mustache grow; it does not really fit him.

Kevin and Michael spent the two days without doing anything interesting. The night of the second day, however, Kevin received a v-mail from Batara. He opened the message and a video of Batara began.

"Hi Kevin. My creation is ready! I`d give you a preview of it, but I`ll keep it secret. Come home tomorrow, and I`ll show you the winner of the next Robot Wars!"

The video was cut there. Michael got the same message.

That night, Kevin had a weird dream where he was chased by a monster, some kind of machine, very tall, and he was cornered until his friends came to help him. However the robot got back up and Kevin defeated it with a special power, probably out of his imagination.

The next day, around eleven in the morning, Kevin and Michael left on their bicycles and reached Batara`s house in no time. They always liked to see Batara`s newest creations. The world of inventors was opened to them and they could see anything special that was made. Batara swore they would one day come with him to the E.A.S.E. Island. The E.A.S.E. Island is a place where scientists of all countries around the world meet up when they feel like it and, once per year, they show off their best invention or discovery of the year.

Kevin got off his bicycle, parked it near the front door, and knocked at the door. This time it was Batara who answered. He was watching television as a show about how things are made was presently on.

"Come in, guys, come in. You didn`t mind the wait?"

Kevin and Michael entered and shook their heads. "Anything you do is quite great, Batara. You know it."

"Yeah, I know. But the machine is quite a heavy battlebot, and I might have problems."

He opened a box and showed a weird remote control. It had fifteen joysticks, and three pairs of handles, one on each side plus the central one.

"Uh, Batara… why the handles?" Michael asked.

"Listen, there are fifteen joysticks and five buttons on this thing. I can`t control my creation alone."

"A point for you," Michael said.

The five buttons were the On/Off button, three red buttons on the middles of the joysticks, and the final button was hidden. Michael tried to ask where was the final button (Kevin still hadn't guessed one plus three do not equal five), but Batara responded nothing at all. He just walked with them to the laboratory. He cracked the code (the door to the lab was protected by a number code so nobody could get down there without knowing that code) and let them in. It was always something impressive to see. Most machines were high-precision tools for robot building. There was a room with thousand of items used for discoveries. Glass tubes, microscopes, everything. A second room was made especially for works demanding extreme precaution and manipulation of tiny pieces; it was the "surgery" room as Batara funnily called it.

Batara went to a spot in the far end where something was hidden between curtains; Batara liked this kind of spectacular uncovering. "Ready?" The teenagers nodded, so Batara pulled the curtains away.

In front of them was a monstrous machine; it was six feet six inches tall, with a body of right angles. Its head had the shape of a cube. It had two red eyes in the shape of triangles, a squared yellow nose, and painted sharp teeth. It also had a long body, more like a rectangle. Two very "squarrely" legs completed it, with very long feet protruding below. The robot has seven smaller things on each side of its body. The legs and the feet could move and fold thanks to a mechanism reminiscent of bellows or accordions. The teenagers looked on the side of the robot; in its back there were series of wheels. However, the side of the machine itself was the scariest thing; on each part of the body, the robot had a weapon. He had circular saws in the head and he had axes, hands with spiked fingers and butcher knives inside the top half. On the upper legs he had sabers, on the lower legs he had planks with nails over it, like those nail carpets used by Indian fakirs. Finally, in the feet he had swords, nothing less.

"Do you believe me now when I say I built a winner?"

"Oh yeah!" Kevin yelled. "We`re so gonna win the cash!"

"By the way, Batara…" Michael began. "What`s the prize for the winner?"

"Well, I have read that the winner had a hundred thousand bucks, the one in second place would get ten thousand, the third and fourth would have only a thousand bucks. We`re gonna be in first place for sure."

"So we`re going with you?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Batara answered simply.

"Super!" Kevin and Michael yelled while high-fiving.

"But you`ll have to help me controlling the robot however. I have put three pairs of handles for a good reason."

"No problem, Batara," Kevin said. "I`d pay someone to use that robot."

On a common agreement, the trio decided that the next day, Batara would go get them at home, with his very small car and the robot in a metallic box attached to the car like a trailer, and they would drive to the competition, which was held in a city neighboring Montreal.

***

The next day happened as such, and after two hours of driving, Batara parked the car in the parking lot near the Battlepark. The place looked nothing like a battle park; it was just a boring building with nothing out of ordinary. However, inside the participants to the tournament who were already arrived had begun placing their creations on stands. As Batara came out of the car, he was welcomed by Sophie Smith, a local reporter for the channel the competition would air on.

"Mister Batara, you were the only one left! How was the trip?"

"Well, it was long, but we`re finally here!" Michael said, stepping out of the car.

"I wasn`t asking to you…" Miss Smith said, turning to him for a split second. The look she gave to Michael was a look of disdain, as if she hated teenagers or just didn`t care about them. "So, mister Byzlack, are you ready for the competition?"

"Well, I have used all my knowledge of tricks and techniques used in such competitions and I believe I have built a robot powerful enough to face anything… and win."

"Can I see the robot?" The reporter asked, faking a smile in front of the camera.

"Sorry, it`s a secret… for now. I will place it on the stand for everyone to see. Which number am I already?"

Sophie Smith pulled a list of the participants and read it. "You will be on stand number eleven." Just then a second car parked, and someone came out of it. Miss Smith rushed to see the newcomer with her usual journalist smile, and said: "Mister Garrod, you were the only one left! How…"

Batara sighed. Are those journalists all the same? Someone came in a motorized vehicle, attached the metallic box to it, and drove to the stand number 11. There would be only sixteen participants. However some could, by a way or another, subscribe two of their creations. As two tough men placed the robot beside the stand, Batara took the remote control out of a toolbox.

Of course, when the reporter saw the machine, she let out a "whoa" of surprise. It was really a big machine; it was a bit taller than her. Sophie Smith approached the robot and turned around it.

"Wow. If I could do so, I would already claim you winner of the competition."

"Thanks," Batara responded.

"I bet she said that to everyone else in the room," Kevin whispered to Michael, who nodded.

Batara`s first battle was against a robot named the Robothing. Very original indeed. Batara did not reveal any special moves from his robot. Kevin and Michael were each controlling five weapons, while Batara controlled the robot`s legs and the remaining four arms. The battle was won when Batara`s robot cut the Robothing`s head off by a quick move.

The guys joined at the cafeteria in the establishment, to talk strategy.

"Guys, we gotta think about a plan. Those battles are quite difficult, you know. And we have some experts in remote control manipulation here."

"Yeah, we know," Michael said.

"So you want us to find… strategies?" Kevin asked.

"That is it, Kevin," Batara replied. "We will try to keep many tricks hidden. The key to winning is surprise."

"Well, you revealed the fourteen weapons already, so… you might use the button labeled 1 on the remote control," Michael suggested.

"And forget the other buttons until later fights," Kevin said. "Um… by the way, what does the button below the remote control do?"

"It`s a secret guys, you`ll discover it soon enough," Batara said, keeping a part of mystery.

For the first round, the battles lasted approximately three minutes; it was either very easy to defeat the opponent, either very surprising battles. Many players took notes on the battlers to know what they might be facing later on. This is the reason why they had to keep things secret; to still surprise the opponent.

The second round began. The battles were a bit longer now; maybe five minutes long. They were interesting because many players knew a trick from their opponent but discovered new tricks that made them lose the game. Kevin, Michael and Batara also watched, but they were not taking notes; many players thought it was silly enough not to know what they will be facing later on.

Just before the fight, Batara made a caucus with his friends. "Listen, guys, I still haven`t found a name for the robot. Do you have any idea?"

Kevin shook his head. "Nothing."

"Well…" Michael began. « When I first looked at it, I felt like it was invincible. When something can`t be defeated, it brings Despair. I thought about this: Despair."

"That`s a good idea," Kevin commented.

"Yeah. I vote for that. Guys, say hello to… Despair!" He said, turning around to point to the robot.

As the friends placed themselves in the box (where they control the robot), Despair was sent on the battlefield. His new opponent was Guy Garrod – yes, the guy who arrived right after him – controlling Cassius 3. That robot could make the other robots fall on their back, and that`s exactly what happened to Despair. However Batara pressed the button labeled #1 and suddenly, Despair, still on his back, began rolling on the wheels placed there. He was quite fast and Cassius did not know what to do.

As if it was not enough, traps leading to spiked floors opened behind the speedy robots, and the battlers could fall in those traps any time. At one point, Batara almost fell, however Michael and Kevin pulled out some of Despair`s weapons and stuck them to the floor, which gave Despair enough grab to get back on the field, like an alpinist who was about to fall to his doom. Batara understood that most traps were located around the field, and not in the center. In other words, if Despair stood in the very middle of the arena, he would not fall down again.

The battle ended when Despair tried to smash Cassius 3 with his foot, but Cassius 3 opened his panel to try and make him fall again. Batara applied more pressure on Cassius with Despair`s foot but it was useless. However Cassius was trapped, so Kevin and Michael pulled out of Despair`s body many sharp weapons which all went through the small robot. They had won that one.

Between the second and third rounds, there was one hour of time for the remaining participants to repair their robot. Many had been very damaged, and some others had lost some of their abilities or parts. Some looked like they were doomed to end in a junkyard; yet everyone had enough time to repair them for round three.

Batara looked closely at the battle between the other finalists; a robot named Terror-Hurtz 2 had won it.

On the other hand, Despair was about to fight a robot named Battle; this robot had a short body, with weak, plastic arms exactly like Despair and an axe at the end of each. Also, it had a pair of solid, metallic legs. It had no head, however its axes could spin thanks to a mechanism in its body; the disk on which the arms were connected to the body were stuck to a cylinder in the body, which was spinning thanks to a system of gears. While gaining speed, the axes could spin on the axis and with the speed, they could really become dangerous.

The battle began. Right away, Battle began his Spin technique, and with its long arms, Despair was unable to get near. The axes were placed in the sense the robot`s arms were spinning, so anything coming in contact with them would get harmed. Battle approached and left a long line on Despair`s belly, the line was actually a crack that broke Despair`s metal shell. Like a scar on a robot. Despair fell on his back, and began using the wheels tricks. On his back, he rolled at ten miles per hour toward Battle, who kept spinning his arms around, and tried to head-butt him; however Battle could still move with his legs, so he could also bend, and so Battle bent and left another scar on Despair`s shell. Despair got back on his feet and tried to cut off Battle`s arms to prevent him from attacking. However, Battle protected those plastic tubes he had as arms. Despair stepped back and got on his back. This time, however, Battle revealed his next trick: he bent to the front, his feet were to the ground on toes, and his arms were now like front legs. He was now like a four-legged robot, with a great speed. Despair rolled toward him at a good speed, while Battle also ran to Despair, and the robots clashed. Despair successfully cut one of Battle`s arms however. Despair turned to Battle; the robot used his final trick. By placing its only arm to the front, it could still run, with three legs! It was full of resources.

"Time to use the next trick," Batara said, pressing the button number 2. Reactors came out of Despair`s feet, and the robot now blasted fast toward Battle, who also run to Despair. The scene happened in a split second: Despair smashed into Battle, who had enough time to attack Despair and have his remaining axe stuck to him. However Despair continued at the high speed he was going to, and dragged Battle, and they both crashed into a wall. Battle was seriously injured, and was losing gas. The gas tank had been broken with the shock. Whatever Battle would do now, he would slowly lose gas until it ultimately stopped functioning. Batara had won.

Batara`s final battle would be against Terror-Hurtz 2. The builders both had two hours to repair their machine. While they repaired Despair, Batara asked his friends for a final strategy against this opponent.

"He knows all your tricks now, Batara," Kevin said. "He`ll use that to fight. And win."

"Nope, Kevin," Batara replied. "Remember when I said there were five buttons on the remote control? I`ll use the hidden fifth button."

"But what does it do?" Michael asked. Batara grinned.

"You will see soon enough."

Finally Despair was repaired; however the scar from his fight with Battle had not disappeared. The gas tank located in the lower portion of the torso had not been damaged either. However Batara was making a risky bet with the hidden button; he knew the plus and minus of that move and it might make him win… or lose.

The competition had lasted maybe seven hours since the beginning, and it was eight in the evening. The friends ate at the cafeteria during the two hours of break, and they brought Batara a sandwich since he was too busy with repairing Despair.

After the two hours ended, someone took Despair and brought him to the battlefield. Kevin, Michael and Batara prepared to control Despair. The battlefield also changed with the traps from round 2 back, and also mountains of blocks in the middle. It would be very difficult to control Despair here.

The round began. Terrror-Hurtz could hover on the blocks in the center to get to Despair`s height and attack the head; so Despair just stood away from those blocks in the middle. Despair just turned around the arena, without any goal. If the gas tank empties, it will have been useless. It`s just then that Batara got a good idea; without any warning, Despair rolled toward the mountain ob blocks and harshly hit the base of it. However, the swords were out of the feet. When the shock was felt on Despair`s head, it`s like the robot had braked right away, and the swords were sent to the front because of the shock. Batara hoped the swords would impale Terror-Hurtz 2. Sadly, the Hurtz avoided it. It was about to attack when Despair got back on his feet and attacked. Despair grabbed Terror-Hurtz 2 and threw it on an arena trap. However, just as it was about to open below it, the robot began hovering and flew to the solid ground, where it landed.

For a minute, nothing much happened; both controllers were thinking up a strategy. Terror-Hurtz 2 moved first. In a swift move, the robot began turning around Despair. The tall robot took out all of his fourteen weapons and tried to attack Terror-Hurtz, but Despair always missed. Not only that, but now Despair`s weapons were often stuck in the floor, and it would be difficult to pull out the arms. This would let Terror-Hurtz enough time to cut some of the taller robot`s arms. Luckily, Batara pressed button number 3, and all the weapons came back in the robot`s body. Right on time.

"Now to use the hidden trick," Batara said, opening something under the remote control. He pushed the button in this opening.

On the field, Despair stopped moving totally. In a split second, all the weapons came out of the body and went randomly in every direction. There was no logic and the weapons could hit anything in a radius of three meters. The body, however, was standing still. The weapons touched Terror-Hurtz and injured the robot`s shell, however Despair was also hit by his own weapons. Finally, after a minute of erratic random movements, the attack stopped and the weapons came back in the body.

Terror-Hurtz was hurt, indeed; impaled twice, with obvious scars from weapons that attacked it. But overall it was still in a state of battle. Despair, however has not been as lucky; his weapons let scratches on its metallic carapace, and one of his weapons made a scar so near to the gas tank that it was almost a miracle if it was not broken.

Those were the plus and minus points of the move; First off, as it moves randomly, it is impossible to know what is going to happen. Also, all the weapons are used at the same time. And the range of the move is quite good, considering all the arms are about six feet long. However, as the move is unpredictable, not only the enemy can get harmed, but Despair can hurt himself. If it hits the electronics in his head, it`ll malfunction or break. If it hits the gas tank and pierces through it, then it will get empty and lose by loss of gas. Also, Despair is immobile for the whole attack, so any enemy just has to get away from it and that opponent will be safe.

Despair kicked Terror-Hurtz away and went in Speed mode. He got on his back. However, Despair usually had captors over the head to see where he was going in that mode; those were broken now, as he ran in those mountains of blocks. Despair rolled to Terror-Hurtz 2 but missed its target (this was Batara`s mistake) and ran into a wall. Because of this he almost fell in a floor trap. Luckily, Despair avoided falling down. The opponent had an impressive stamina for a small robot.

Batara tried a final thing. He controlled Despair so the robot got on one of those mountains of blocks, and controlled him to jump from those blocks to land on Terror-Hurtz 2. However the small robot pushed out of the way before, and Despair fell on another floor trap, which opened below him. Terror-Hurtz was sitting near the trap, as if it was looking at the tall robot falling to his loss. Maybe laughing a Despair trying to get back on the floor…

In an ultimate move, Despair took out most of his weapons and used them to climb back. However Terror-Hurtz took that chance to cut off one of his arms. Despair took his hands out and tried to grab the side, however in a surprise move he grabbed Terror-Hurtz and threw him in the hole. Terror-Hurtz got impaled in the spikes down there, while Despair could finally come out.

Batara had won the tournament. He was acclaimed by the crowd who was watching the fight, as Mrs. Smith approached him. "Very cool fight, mister Byzlack! You said earlier today that you had built a winner – well now we have a proof!"

"Without my friends I would never have won. They did a good part of the job by controlling some weapons. Ask them."

"Uh… no, you`re the one who built the robot after all. Have you found it a name?"

"Despair", the three friends said in unison.

After a short interview between Sophie Smith and Batara, the trio left with the hundred thousand bucks. They packed Despair (or rather the really injured robot) and its missing pieces in the metallic trailer and left. On the way, Batara promised they would stop for them to buy stuff. To spend the cash, in other words. Kevin stopped in an extreme sports store, and bought a wheel-less skateboard; it was called a Hoverboard and it only cost about one percent of the prize. Batara agreed on one percent for both of his friends. Michael stopped in a bookstore and bought for a lot less cash, however he had bought about ten novels, twelve graphic novels, two board games, three DVDs and one CD.

Finally, they got back home around eleven at night. The teenagers went to sleep right away. Nothing could trouble what was left of their vacation; school began in three days. Hopefully everything would go well.

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Author`s notes: This was a shorter chapter than I expected; I wanted it to have about five thousand words. Well, that`s the beginning of my original series. Don`t forget to leave a comment, review, do what you want. Also, you might want to follow this story closely because MANY plot details will come in soon. But I hope you enjoy it! It`s my fully original story. All out of my head, with references to many other science fiction works.


	2. Arc 1: Attack of the Invincible, Part 2

I own everything in this story. Maybe some details are based on already existing stories however.

Arc 1: Attack of the Invincible, part 2

Vacation was over; time to get back to school. It was Kevin`s first day to Sainte-Esperance High School. A new world as it was also his first day of high school; would he survive it? That`s what he hoped. Michael, however, was dead terrorized by what could happen. He was so white that he looked like a vampire.

"What`s the big deal, Michael?" Kevin asked.

"I`ll tell you later, okay?" Michael just replied.

Sainte-Esperance High School had been named such from a woman who helped more than any other woman during the war of 1760. Any history class about the province would explain better, but Kevin would not understand anyway. But strangely, Sœur Esperance was not mentioned in much older books; very few proofs of her existence were found.

As for the school itself, it was built in a very strange way; a part of it was made for the elementary students; the bigger part was however built for the high school students. However the two sides never met up, as the architects built the school as if it was two smaller schools smashed together. Also, the backyards of the elementary and high school were separated by a wall. It was a very tall wall impossible to climb, so it would be impossible for mischievous "high-schoolers" to go to the other side and target youngsters. The students were not allowed to go from one side to the other till they reached the age to.

Maybe that`s what was scaring Michael. Amongst his many phobias, one of them revolved around intimidation, as he had been suffering for a part of his youth.

"Man, I hope I won`t meet Calvin here," Michael told Kevin.

"What are you talking about?" Kevin asked.

"Well, when I was in elementary here, I was bullied by a guy named Calvin, he was two years older. When he passed on the high school side, I felt great and the remaining two elementary years were perfect. Well now I might just see him again here."

"All I see for now is cuties," Kevin said. "Quebec girls are really cute."

"Slow down, Casanova, will you?" Michael reminded him. "Time to go to class." On this, the friends got inside.

Their first morning was easy. One teacher didn`t particularly like English people so he lectured Kevin, and made him swear to speak the best French he could in that class.

During lunch, Michael saw Calvin, and pointed him for Kevin to see who it was. Calvin was a muscular teenager, maybe fifteen years old, eating at a table with his gang. His shoes looked like they could crack anytime because of his feet. He was wearing a red forehead band, a black shirt with an image of a skull, and a blue shirt open in the front with the sleeves ripped off. Black jeans completed his clothing. Michael nearly ran away as soon as he saw him. Luckily Kevin grabbed him in time.

"Just do as if he was not there."

"But he ruined four years of my life, Kevin. I just can`t forget that kind of thing, you know?"

Kevin sighed. "Forget it, man. I`ve beaten tougher boys back in Vermont." Maybe Kevin was lying, maybe he was not. The rest of dinner time was calm, so were the two classes of the afternoon. Kevin and Michael grabbed the city bus, paid the four bucks needed, and left the school. However, they were not going home; they decided to go to Batara`s first.

The bus stopped near Batara`s street, so the teenagers walked the small distance to the front door. They knocked and Fastos answered. "Oh, hello misters Kevin and Michael."

"No need to be so formal, Fastos, you know?" Michael said.

"It is my program and my duty to be a servant treating everyone as superior beings," Fastos replied with his humanlike voice. "Master Batara should be coming from the basement in a few minutes."

"Thanks," Kevin said. Just then the door to the basement opened, revealing a Batara with a splash of gasoline on the cheek.

"Hey, guys. What`s up?" he asked. Michael pointed to the splash on his cheek and Batara rubbed it off with a tissue.

"The first day of school wasn`t too bad," Kevin said.

"Yeah, it was quite great," Michael added. "And how did you spend your day?"

"Well, my fighter is repaired, completely, everything is okay. And I upgraded its movement system. It will now move better."

"Awesome," Kevin said. "Can we go see it?"

"Sure, follow me." Batara walked to the underground laboratory. Batara`s house may be a modest one, the laboratory hidden underground is a lot bigger. Plus, his great backyard is used for something special, but he hasn`t shown them what yet. Batara dialed the code; it was safe because only he and Fastos knew the code. He let the teenagers in and entered after them.

Despair was right in the center of the room, with a small stool beside it; Batara had to use this because of his height. Well, both his and his robot`s heights. Despair was fully repaired; his smashed top had been replaced by a brand new one. The scar on his body had disappeared; the shell had been changed to a new one. That way, the lower belly, where the gas tank is, was also repaired. The arm that had been cut off had been replaced by a new one. The teenagers looked around Despair when they heard knocking.

"We hear everything from here. Well, almost everything," Batara explained.

On the ground floor, Fastos answered to the door. "Hello, Mister Carlos Cyrano."

Batara stood in shock as he heard the real name of his scientist rival. "Coming!" He yelled to make sure Carlos would understand. In a hurry, he let Kevin and Michael out of the laboratory, came out as well, code-locked the door behind him and showed up.

"Hi, Batara," Carlos said in a cold tone.

"Oranic…" Batara said. Carlos Cyrano is a scientist, and many scientists have a nickname. Batara decided he would not use one, but the old man had decided to make an anagram of his family name, so it went from Cyrano to Oranic.

Carlos Cyrano was eighty-seven years old. He had a crown of laurels-like hair around the head and the top as clean as a bowling ball. He had a long nose, didn`t need glasses, and he always had a smirk on the face. He also constantly wore the scientist outfit.

"Batara, my friend!" Oranic said in a fake friendly tone. "How is it going?" Batara was not fooled by this tone.

"What do you want, Cyrano?" Batara asked. Oranic hated when one used his real family name; it reminded him of his long nose and it would become an insult to him. Actually, he preferred when one used his nickname.

"Well, I have watched the competition on television, and I was wondering if I could see the winner."

"No way, Oranic. I will not let you in my laboratory. Who knows what you would do."

Oranic grumbled. "Why are you always thinking I`m up to no good?"

"I have known you for fourteen years, Oranic. As if I didn`t know you`re always trying to mess up younger scientists` creations. You can leave right now."

Oranic, frustrated, replied: "Anyway I have seen everything Despair could do, I don`t need to see it more. I thought you were welcoming."

"Not with you. Get out, please."

Oranic left the house. Fastos closed the door behind him.

"You were rough, Batara," Michael said.

"If I let myself get controlled by Oranic, then what will happen?" the scientist replied. " I have to face his intimidation. Well, guys, goodbye. Time to go home."

The teenagers left the house, took the city bus and arrived home.

***

That weekend, Batara was called by the city park`s owner, who had watched the tournament. He needed Despair to chop down trees. Batara invited Kevin and Michael to the place, and of course they agreed; to see a powerful machine like Despair doing any kind of job is always something awesome to watch.

So the small car with the metal box left Batara`s garage and left for the teenagers` house. Batara picked them up. Kevin had brought his Hoverboard, as the park had a skatepark, and Michael brought his backpack with his videogames and a few books.

After about ten minutes, the car parked in the parking. The trio was welcomed by the park`s owner, a rich man. He had to leave for a meeting, so he let the park`s guardian to show them around. After he left, the guardian welcome them. Batara opened the side of the metallic box, and let the guardian look at the machine. He had watched the competition as well, and he was impressed by the size of the creation. The guardian explained what had to be made. The forest in the middle of the park had many trees that were too old or rotten, and they had to be chopped down. Despair could use all his weapons to do this task. However, the tallest tree of all also had to be cut down, and it was difficult to do it without hitting something else in the radius. Batara decided to start off with that one.

During that time, Kevin jumped on his Hoverboard and hovered to the skatepark. He began practicing figures. He had heard the Hoverboards had many special details; if one is going at a fast speed on it, it is possible to float over water. According to the urban legend, however, the one who tried this over a lake smashed into a water-skier.

Three-Rivers` City Park was an immense park with many cool features; a round hedge maze, a small artificial lake, a skatepark, a small forest, soccer fields, and metallic structures for children.

Batara turned to the guardian. "So, what are the reasons for the job?"

"Well, first off, it is to stop all the trees from taking more space. And second, there`s a wood-work company that opened right in front of the park, we`ll send them the wood made from those trees. Now get to work, I want to see that machine at work."

"Okay," Batara said, and he turned on the remote control, which turns on the robot as well.

Batara estimated the height of the tree, then estimated the distance between this tree and the guardian`s cabin, then he also estimated the distance between this tree and many locations of this park. Finally he decided to let the tree fall somewhere it was not dangerous at all. Then he controlled Despair so the great machine walked to the tree, took out some of its weapons, and began the task. It began chopping small pieces of wood from the tree. Despair had done a nice job for now, but it would be a very long task. The tree was not falling anytime soon. However, all of a sudden, Despair stopped moving. No matter what Batara was doing on the remote control, Despair stood there, like a statue of metal.

"Guys! We got a problem!" Batara yelled to Kevin and Michael. They rushed to Despair. "He stopped moving all of a sudden… I fear it`s nothing good." Finally Batara heard a click from the robot. "Maybe it was just a sudden bug… It should work."

Batara grabbed the remote control, turned it off, turned it back on, and began controlling Despair with the joystick. However Despair didn`t move at all. Batara tried to press a few buttons, but nothing happened. Two more clicks were heard from the machine. Finally, Batara pressed another joystick, but nothing happened. Until Despair moved. Slowly the weapons came back inside the body, and the robot turned to Batara.

"Oh oh…" the scientist said. And the robot took out one of his hands with spiked fingers, and attacked Batara. Kevin, on a speedy movement, changed the trajectory of the hand, and it got stuck in the tree.

"It`s gonna kill us!" Michael yelled. "Run away!" That was the voice of a coward, but it was the voice of reason speaking.

Kevin and Batara didn`t believe it until Despair pulled out all his weapons at the same time. Batara grabbed the remote control and pressed some buttons. "It`s not working!" Kevin got on his Hoverboard, grabbed Batara, and hovered away from the robot. Despair turned his body to them. Now Despair looked really dangerous.

Luckily the Hoverboard could hover over any surface, might it be grass, sand, even water though it is not recommended. Despair`s wheels could not do this. The tall robot changed from standing form to rolling form, and went after them. However, it was being slowed down by the grass. Kevin could escape far enough. Batara looked behind.

"Oh no, it`s gonna use.. The reactors!"

"What?" Kevin asked. Behind them, Despair, on its back, used its reactor form. The reactors came out of its feet, and this threw it at full speed toward Kevin, who avoided it by an inch. "That was close…" Kevin stopped the Hoverboard near the guardian`s cabin. "Batara, stay inside. Unless he breaks everything, you will be safe."

But Despair was already rolling to them. The guardian saw that, grabbed an axe and attacked Despair right in time, avoiding Kevin and Batara get rammed by the robot. Despair came back on its feet, and faced the guardian, who got scared. In a swift move, Despair pushed the guardian aside, and approached Kevin and Batara… until it was hit by a stone. That stone had been thrown by Michael. He was acting heroic? That was like a miracle, a dream come true. But Despair turned to him, and all of a sudden Michael chickened out and ran away to the hedge maze.

"No!" Batara yelled.

"What?" Kevin asked.

"Well, Despair can ram into the hedge and make holes, while it won`t be possible for Michael to cut through the hedge. If he gets lost, what will he do?"

"Damn. We gotta go help him!" Kevin yelled. He let his Hoverboard near the cabin, and ran with Batara to the hedge maze.

n the hedge maze, Michael was going aimlessly, and he had no idea where he was going. He had to get out of the maze, because Despair could attack him any time. Soon he ended in a dead end, in front of a wall of hedge. He also heard a buzz noise, which was none other than Despair approaching.

The robot finally stopped in front of Michael. It got back on its feet, and prepared to attack. "HELP!" Michael yelled. Just then an arm popped out of the hedge wall, grabbed Michael, and pulled him out of the way as Despair was about to attack. The arm was Kevin`s. Michael had been sent through the hedge, so he had small scars over the face and his shirt was a mess.

"Is everything okay, man?" Kevin asked.

"No time for questions, Kev! Time to run away, Despair`s just there!"

"Nice rhyme, but it`s not really the right time, Michael…" Batara said till they saw Despair passing through the wall of hedge. "Run!"

The three friends ran away from Despair, so the great robot just got on his back again and chased after them.

"Let`s split up!" Michael said. "He can`t chase us all at the same time!"

"Okay!" Kevin said, before running faster toward the guardian`s cabin. He caught his Hoverboard, jumped on it and began hovering and gaining speed. Despair decided to chase Kevin. The robot got on its wheels, turned in the direction of Kevin, the reactors appeared below its feet, and it rolled at supersonic speed after Kevin. Kevin tried to gain speed, but he was slow enough for Despair to catch up. Kevin spun away just as Despair was about to hit him. However, when Kevin did that, he saw he was going to get… over the lake! Kevin tried to stop, but he was going too fast. The Hoverboard hovered over the surface of the lake, and apparently he had been fast enough to get to the other side. However, Despair, who was still on the other side, was patiently waiting.

"Come and get me, stupid machine!" Kevin yelled. Despair walked to the lake, put a foot in it, and then decided to instead turn around the lake to get its prey.

Batara sighed. "If it had decided to pass by the lake, it would have succeeded; I made it waterproof. That`s one of the upgrades I could do."

"You could have waited in case something could have happened!"

"I didn't know this was going to happen. I have watched, re-watched and re-re-watched it!"

Kevin was on the other side of the artificial lake when he saw Despair get once more into his reactor form and roll around the lake and toward him. "Uh oh…"

Despair was coming at a high speed toward him. Kevin acted rapidly; the metal structure was not very far in the distance. Kevin ran there and, in a few moves, was over the metal bars where kids could hold and go from one side to the other. Despair came back in standing form and tried to attack Kevin with its weapons. "I`m not high enough, he can get me!"

Despair was now below him and attacking with its weapons. Kevin lifted his feet where Despair was aiming, avoided the weapons, however nothing could stop the evil robot. Kevin jumped when two weapons almost got him, but he landed on a single side metal bar and he fell down, on the sand of the playground. "Ouch!" And then he saw Despair who turned to him, ready to attack.

Just then Batara and Michael arrived near the scene and saw Kevin on the ground, about to be attacked by Despair. "Kevin!" they both yelled. But it was too late, Despair`s axe hit Kevin`s nose. A "tink" was heard.

Everyone stood silent. A fly could fly around that it would be heard immediately. Despair stood there, silent as ever, with no different expression on the face. Kevin was still on the ground, with his face showing an unequaled scare. And Michael and Batara stood there, Michael wondering what was going on and Batara asking to himself how could Kevin not even bleed a tiny bit from this.

Despair removed his axe and attacked again. This time, he used a butcher knife and attacked Kevin`s arm. Strangely, the knife cut Kevin`s sleeve, but didn`t leave any scratch on his skin. Michael and Batara were quite puzzled.

Kevin rose on his feet and faced the robot. "What`s happening?" he wondered. Despair was about to attack with his spiked hands, so Kevin, out of terror, protected himself with his own hands. He noticed his hands were… glowing?

Despair had also seen this. Strangely, it was not reacting. It probably didn`t know what was going on. It`s just a robot, after all; it was not even supposed to have artificial intelligence. Kevin saw that as a chance to counterattack. His pupils had turned red. It was very strange. For anyone who watched the scene actually, it could be very bizarre, like an action scene from a fantasy movie. But Despair avoided the punch, and attacked again with the circular saws he had in the head. He attacked Kevin, but it tickled. Plus it was simply hitting Kevin`s skin, not leaving any mark. As if Kevin was made of stone or had a protection against physical attacks all over him.

Kevin walked to Despair, and tried punching him. Despair countered with one of his nailed planks. Kevin unleashed a series of punches, yet Despair could always prevent the attack from hitting it.

Kevin put his hands on Despair`s flat, metallic torso and yelled. His hands glowed red for a second and Despair was sent back a few feet. From the impact, Despair had two marks of hands on the torso, and around the print of the hands it was black, as if it had been burnt. Strange.

Batara fainted. He was the type of scientist who only believes in science; everything that comes in the domain of magic or fantasy is impossible to him; however his brain always concludes that something that looks impossible has something to do with magic. He had seen experiments, people with strange powers thanks to DNA changes, but anything that didn`t come with explanation was magic. Of course the crappy magician shows were not doing this effect because he knew it was all staged. But Kevin`s acting right now was beyond comprehension, which is why he fainted. This was unexplainable to him.

Michael saw Batara faint but didn`t know what to do. He kept watching the battle, taking mental notes for a possible future story he will maybe write.

Kevin was panting heavily. He had no idea how he could do that. Even if someone could explain him with scientific terms, he wouldn`t understand anyway. It was just all too weird. He looked at his opponent. Despair was still calm; however maybe some short-circuit was operating in its head as clicking noises could be heard. It made the silent enemy a lot scarier all of a sudden.

Despair got on his back and went in wheel mode. It rolled away from Kevin. Kevin looked at Despair rolling away. "No way!" He said, and ran after it. He was running faster than usual. Well, he probably had a good arsenal of powers… it was time to try them. Kevin began running at a better speed, and soon he reached Despair. The robot could still use its weapons, so it tried to attack Kevin. But the teenager always either avoided the weapon or used some sort of magical shield against it. Finally Kevin ran in front of Despair and stopped him successfully. However, the big robot had taken out all his weapons and because of the sudden stop they all got Kevin at the same time. But some sort of magical, invisible shield stopped them as well. "Wow," he said, "that`s special." Despair rose on its feet and faced Kevin again. It was a harsh battle; and neither of them had it easy.

In the distance, Michael was trying to wake Batara up; but the scientist was passed out solidly. Michael tried to get some water from the artificial lake, and splash it on Batara, but he couldn`t get enough water to do so. He was also afraid for Kevin. What would happen now? He got the fainted Batara on his back, so he could bring him to where Kevin and Despair were fighting. And he ran to the battle scene. "He`s so small that I feel like a babysitter," he thought.

Despair was attacking weapon after weapon, but Kevin always avoided the hit each time, and feinted again. Despair really had enough. Kevin was also getting tired of the battle, as he was panting heavily.

Despair rolled away from him, at least a hundred meters away. Kevin was tired, and he was panting too much to think about Despair. However, Despair turned to his extremely fast mode, and rammed into Kevin at the speed of a truck. Kevin had had enough time to create another force shield, and Despair smashed it instead. Despair`s head was seriously injured by this move; probably the inside circuits had been damaged. Despair rose on its feet, and faced Kevin a final time. With all its weapons, it tried a final move by attacking Kevin simultaneously. But Kevin teleported behind Despair right in time. Despair however stood in shock as its enemy had disappeared. Kevin grabbed Despair`s "shoulders", turned him around, and kicked it right in what should be the groin. A bit of gasoline leaked out of the spot, as it is where the gas tank was. Now Despair would slowly lose fuel until it stops moving. But Despair could last hours; apparently Batara added a bigger gas tank. Despair tried a final thing, but Kevin released a powerful attack like a karate user, smashed Despair on the head, and cut it in half by the center. The two parts of Despair fell on both sides. The squared nose had fallen off with the attack.

Michael arrived on the scene and saw Despair cut in half. "Wow… what caused that?"

"I did," Kevin said with a big smile. His pupils turned back from red to brown. "Piece of c…" and Kevin fainted.

Michael still had Batara on his back, and the scientist was still passed out. "What do I do now?" Michael looked around, unsure of what to do now.

***

An hour later, Kevin opened the eyes. He was no more in the park; he was on a couch. He recognized the couch resting in Batara`s living room. "Huh, what happened?" the teenager asked.

"Well, I don`t know," Batara said, coming with lemonade. His scientist shirt was a bit wet. "Al I know is that I was awoken at the park, I had fainted for a reason. Michael told me you had passed out; I could see you on the floor. Then I see Despair cut in half. What happened?"

"Well, you won`t believe me," Kevin said. "But I think I cut Despair in half with some weird powers."

"That makes no sense," Batara said. "Unless a twist ending occurred and a "deus ex machina" popped in… but we are not in a literary work."

"I know," Michael said. "But I`ve seen it, and it was scary."

"I won`t believe it until I really see it," Batara replied.

"You won`t; you passed out by seeing him use superpowers. It was too magical for you."

Batara chuckled. "Very funny. Magic does not exist. Dangerous experiments, risky creations, monstrous discoveries, extraterrestrials and mutants exist, but not magic."

"Extraterrestrials? Mutants?" Kevin and Michael yelled at the same time.

"Uh, forget what I said, ok?" Batara said suddenly, taking a distant look. "Anyway, magic does not exist. If it does, then I should learn to stop fainting or prevent my brain from turning off when it happens."

"Anyway, I know what I have seen," Michael replied. "And I`ll stick to my version. After all look at what`s left of Despair… what normal fight could have done that?"

Batara sighed. "I have seen the hand prints on its belly, and only some fire could have done it. I cannot explain, and you wouldn`t understand, but maybe a chemical reaction could have done that."

Kevin sighed. "Well maybe it was just luck. I doubt about it now."

"Anyway guys, I have some great news," Batara said happily.

"What?" Michael asked.

"I got an excellent idea! That thing with Despair made me think…" He paused. "That I should make more robots." He paused again. "So starting tomorrow, I`ll start working on…"

Kevin and Michael waited for the answer as Batara was comically stretching time.

"Sorrow, Anger and Revenge, Despair`s brothers!" Batara ended. "…Michael?" Michael didn`t respond as he was on the floor, not moving at all.

The teenager had fainted…

* * *

Author`s notes: Well, that was the end of Arc 1. I should tell you I have chosen sci-fi and friendship as the main genres of this fanfic, but now I add fantasy, and future arcs will add romance, mystery, and more. Maybe even a slight bit of suspense.

Also, as I said earlier, you should try to follow this story closely as details will come in, and soon many questions will be left unanswered. Here, there are two or three questions that have not been answered already. But many more will come, mainly during Arc 2.

Arc 2 will plunge into the organization Batara is part of, as well as scientist rivalry and more mysteries… as well as some things you might not have thought of.

The title would reveal too much, so… you will have to wait!


	3. Arc 2: Curse of the Chandeliers, part 1

Arc 2: Curse of the Chandeliers, Part 1

Notes: This happens in November 2049. Thanks to Detective Gemini for the character William, as he wasn`t originally part of it, but can have a good use.

* * *

A biplane landed near a pyramid. As soon as the plane stopped moving, the door opened, revealing a scientist in the usual outfit, the white vest with buttons, the black pants and the shoes without shoelaces. He had a small scar on the left cheek. He looked young; he was certainly below thirty years old.

The man pulled a map from his overfilled backpack, and looked at it. He thought for some time, folded the map back and put it in his backpack. That pyramid hid something important in the chamber. The scientist knew it. Actually, it was the exact reason why he came here. Reports of explorers who entered this place but never came back had been numerous. Very few of them were able to come back, and they told stories of advanced mechanisms, powerful forces and devilish traps. It was a miracle if they were still alive.

Whatever was in the pyramid, the scientist was ready: intense physical and mental training to avoid panicking and face many dangers that would require the body. If it was not enough, his backpack would contain something that would help him – or he hoped so.

He solved the simple riddle that was supposedly locking up the door, and entered. Inside, a simple hallway was waiting for him since five thousand years. However, as soon as the door closed behind him, he turned on a flashlight, which would let him see in the dark. He walked in the hallway until he walked on a brick in the floor and a mechanism was turned on.

It was a simple of design yet ingeniously dangerous trap: blocs fell from the ceiling and hit the floor before rising back to the ceiling with the same speed. The scientist had read somewhere that this trap was tricky as only a slight opening of five blocks was free from harm. And at the speed it was going, he had to run as soon as the first block was back on the ceiling. The first block fell down, so the scientist got ready to sprint. And as the block rose back, he started running. His thought were limited to "don`t turn back". He ran at the right speed, the blocks in front of him were rising at the same speed and the blocks behind were falling on the same beat. He finally reached the end, and he was astonished by the complexity of this trap; the Egyptians who designed it must have been geniuses. Behind him, the blocs kept falling and rising for a minute and stopped.

The scientist went through many passageways without letting any trap get him, and he reached the final trap; this one was permanently on, and the scientist was surprised to see how imaginative it was. It reminded him of that television game show forty years ago, when players had to pass through walls in which were holes forming shapes. However here there was no wall; only javelins coming out of the walls, the ceiling and the floor to form shapes. Johnny jumped through a series of javelins that formed first a square, then a circle, then an upside-down triangle, a lozenge, and finally, it was a star that popped up. It was extremely dangerous as Johnny heard some of those javelins` blades had been covered with a poisonous fluid.

Finally he passed through the star-shaped hole, and reached the room where the Pharaoh rested. The long chest the decomposed body slept in was surrounded by two strange objects of a gold color bearing the Horus eye. Those objects were the reason the scientist went through all that. He had emptied his bag from a multitude of tools as he was going through the many traps. He put one of the items in his now empty bag and held the other one in his arms. He knew there had to be some kind of way to open a secret passageway here and he finally found it. He pushed the brick, which triggered a series of rumblings and opened a door to a passage.

The scientist followed the path, hoping it was going to send him out of the pyramid; however the exit was locked, and the secret door had closed behind him as well. However he knew there might be such a trap at the end, which is why he had brought a few artisanal bombs. He put one near the exit. A series of scientific calculations could let him predict the impact of the bomb at different places and so he could decide of the least damaging spot. He triggered the bomb, went a few steps back and waited. He knew the shaking from the bomb could cause some things to collapse, so to avoid getting stuck again, he ran out just before the new exit was closed again by a small mountain of boulders.

The scientist ran to his biplane, carefully placed the items near him, and piloted the plane to who knows where.

***

"Welcome to my world, guys!" Batara said. "Welcome to the E.A.S.E. Island." Batara is a member of the E.A.S.E., the Earthly Association of Scientific Experts.

"That`s it?" Michael said, astonished. "That`s awesome."

Kevin yawned. "It`s not worth those evil scientist castle or those supervillains headquarters," he said with irony. "Really, there`s nothing too interesting here." This offended Batara, who turned to his friend.

"Then just leave, the boat is there. We scientists have worked all our youth to be able to enter this place. We sacrificed parties, relationships, and anything cool to be part of this! We had to prove we could make discoveries that would change a lot!"

Kevin "pfft"ed. "So you are all some kind of old, ugly nerds, right?"

A gorgeous blonde woman passed near them. "Hello kids. Hello Batara," she said, and left. She was holding blueprints under her left arm and had a wrench in her scientist blouse`s pocket. Kevin and Michael were surprised by her beauty.

"Veronica Valentine, French scientist, twenty-four years old. What were you saying about nerds already, Kevin?"

"Uh… I forgot," the teenager, red like a tomato, babbled.

"Thought so," the small scientist replied. "We worked all our life to enter this place but we had no idea it existed until we were. It`s one of the UN`s most secret locations. Here we all meet up once a year to show our most important discovery – and we come here whenever we feel like it to make experiment or ask for the help of other scientists. It`s cool, isn`t it?"

"It sure is!" Michael said happily.

"There`s nothing great here, where`s the action? The weird machines?" Kevin asked.

Batara frowned. "Kevin, you are getting on my nerves. Be careful what you wish for or else I will send you in the maximum security monster prison, and you will get scarred for life."

Batara brought them near the tower. It was an immense tower, it was over a hundred meters tall, and it was very large. On an island in the very middle of the South Pacific Ocean, such a tower should be seen easily. Michael asked the question to the scientist.

"Well, you are right on this, Michael. However, one of the very first creations from the Elders was some sort of machine that hid completely the island from view. Did I mention it is not even a true island?"

"You`re kidding, Batara," Kevin said.

"No, I`m serious here," the scientist replied. "Listen, this "island" is called a remote island because it is not a real one. It has all been built in the UN headquarters around the nineties, and sent here. The tower was at first a small place; it grew to a tall tower with time."

Michael was impressed by everything. The total IQ of the humans here would have totaled ten thousand if one was to count. Kevin also was slowly getting impressed by everything here. But he was stuck at the mention of a maximum security prison. Something like that, on an island full of scientists? Impossible, at least in his opinion.

"Batara, you mentioned a prison here?" he asked his friend.

The scientist smirked. "We are scientists, we are brilliant, but we are humans, we make mistakes…and some of our mistakes revolve around laboratory creation of monsters of any kind; robotic, mutant, cell degeneration, etcetera. Those past three months, you haven`t seen Despair or his brothers Sorrow, Anger and Revenge in my laboratory – I called the E.A.S.E. guardian William to come, get them, and send them in a protection cell down there."

"That`s cool!" Kevin said. "Is there any way to go and visit this… security prison?"

Batara sighed. "If only – horror fans would be on cloud nine! But those creatures are extremely scary and some of them are powerful, should I add dangerous, with abilities that would scare a normal adventurer. William is the only person here who can go there and not even be scared at all. He went back and forth in this place so often that he`s not scared by anything anymore," the scientist ended. "You`d arrive in his back silently and yell "Boo!" or comically put a hand on his shoulder, and he would not react."

Batara stopped near a pitch-black door. The door was solidly closed by a lock, and nothing could be heard from it. Batara yelled at William, who arrived immediately without any surprise. William unlocked the door, leaving a pale light enter the room. All Kevin could see was a set of stairs, leading to a small hallway, and nothing beyond this. However the thunder of roars, of monstrous screams and robotic clicks rose to them. William closed the door as if he had heard nothing.

"You see? That`s why we never let anyone visit this place. Unless you`re deaf and blind, you`ll be scared out of your skin," William explained. He locked the door again, and let the shocked teenagers and the terrorized scientist catch their breath, as they had been scared. "Heh. It always does that to everyone," he said, smirking. "You better get used to this; a new boarder arrives in this prison each year, if not two or three." On this, William left, with the key to this monster prison in his pocket.

"What else can be found here, Batara?" Kevin asked, still shocked by the combined yell of a hundred errors of science.

"Well, farther there we can find a small battle coliseum, where rival scientists can fight with battle robots. A good way to stop a feud and decide who`s the winner as you must carefully pick your robot in the many choices and defend against your opponent`s strategy. Other than that, there are some sport fields and a nature spot for the scientists who need to test something out of a laboratory or the tower. There is a hangar for our airborne and waterborne creations, and we also hide some battleships there. I almost forgot, there`s a park."

"A park? Here?" Michael wondered out loud.

"Yes, Michael. However I heard it was not only used for getting fresh air. It has a way to defend in case all Hell breaks loose here, but I have not seen it yet. Enough about the outside for now. Come inside."

Batara and his friends walked to the main door, a solid metallic door the could only be unlocked from a scientist`s fingerprints. Batara walked to the lock, put his right hand`s small fingers in the five small holes, and the door opened. The teenagers couldn`t believe it. It was huge! And it was only the ground floor`s room. It contained one stand for every country, and all the countries had between one and ten scientists – hence the small size of some and the size of some bigger ones like the United States stand, which contained place for eight scientists. They walked to the France stand, which had three seats. For now, of course.

"New members of the E.A.S.E. must have discovered something of importance. That`s how they become part of the association. One of the newest members, a resident from France named Johnny Jones – I`ll let you guess where he was from before moving to France – entered the association some time ago. I don`t remember what he discovered, it was just okay for him to come in the gang, but borderline. Sort of."

The Germany stand was just in front of the France one. They had only two seats.

"It`s funny because Veronica Valentine, the woman you have seen when you arrived, and Hyeronimus Hetmann, a true German, are the same age. I think there`s good chemistry between them. I have even seen him hand her a small paper where it was written "Ich liebe dich" one day." (Search for it on a translator… *small laugh*)

Kevin and Michael really thought this place was cool now. Kevin more doubted on it. When Michael asked what was on the higher floors, Batara smirked.

"Well, I can`t tell you everything because we scientists can access only a few select spots. There is a large projection room, where a scientist can explain how his machine works thanks to a super powerful computer in which we can download plans and any type of media from a USB key or something similar. We also have a big conference room where the Elders and some scientists can join and talk about serious matters. Incoming threats, funerals for dead scientists, the decision on the ones that can become scientists… As for the rest, I don`t know much. Pretty much anything can be found."

Batara paused. "Also, the five underground floors are high-tech laboratories so the scientists here can make experiments and complete their creation, maybe ameliorate them if needs be. It`s like a tiny country for scientists. Awesome, isn`t it?"

"There`s just one thing I need to know, Batara," Michael began. "You mentioned Elders… who are they?"

"Well, the five oldest members of the E.A.S.E. form some sort of council where they regularly meet up and take the most important decisions for the whole island. Should we ameliorate the defense system? Should we add one more level to the tower? The oldest for now, named Miyaru Shigemoto, is the only one remaining from the five Great Elders, the founders of the E.A.S.E. in 1989. Apparently, the Eldest, who is the oldest member obviously, knows all of the E.A.S.E.`s deepest secrets. They are some really scary secrets, and usually we are not allowed to know about them. The Elders also decide, for the growth of humanity, which discoveries can be shared with the world without any danger or long-term aftereffects. Oranic`s youth serum is part of what can`t be shared yet. Imagine all the people who would kill for this type of product!"

On this, Batara decided they had seen enough of this place; non-scientists could not visit more of the tower than the main room on the ground floor, at best the cafeteria, and the restrooms if needed. However, they were about to leave when Veronica Valentine entered the main room and sat on her chair, in the France stand. She had a strange look on the face. Batara approached her. Kevin and Michael blushed at her beauty. She was always gorgeous.

"What`s going on?" He asked to Veronica.

"Well, two things… first, the blueprints apparently have a few mistakes and I have to re-do them so it works, and two: that stupid newcomer, Johnny Jones, the most recent French scientist, well he is gone who knows where and he forgot new scientists have to let us know where they go. He`s acting like a teenager."

"Don`t be angry at him, he`s just beginning. And so are you. You entered the E.A.S.E. at twenty. You just escaped the youth duty. By the way, sorry to break the subject, but… how is it doing with Hyeronimus?"

"Well, he swore he would soon be with me in a nice French restaurant, but as of now all I have seen from him is schnitzels. I hope he`ll like the food of my country. Anyway yeah, that Johnny`s acting childish. If you see him, remind him the rules, okay?"

"I`ll do that. I`ll leave with my friends now. Goodbye, Vero."

"See you later, Batara," the woman scientist answered. Batara walked to the exit, followed by his friends (who were hiding their blushes), and let them exit first. They got in Batara`s private jet which rested in a hangar, and left for Three-Rivers.

***

This had been a short trip, yet in Three-Rivers, it was very late. They arrived around midnight. Luckily Kevin and Michael`s parents knew they would arrive late. Luckily the following day was a Sunday. Michael planned to go to the city library to get some books to read.

The teenagers left on their bicycles and drove directly to the library, where they locked their bicycle on racks and entered. It was a nice library, not as big as the ones in the US but still with enough pages to let a human have enough reading for his whole life. Michael asked where the section on legends was. He got an answer and walked directly to the place where those books were held.

"Why do you like books so much, Michael? In our time, they should all be virtual books, right?" Kevin asked.

"Many are virtual books, yes, but many of the best books just can`t be found virtually. If I want a good read, I must come here and pick through the selection."

They arrived on the place where books about legends were carefully placed. Quebec legends, Asia`s mysteries, creatures of the world, religions and facts about ancient civilizations… Michael always loved coming to the library, but this was one of the best spots ever. Michael zoomed through the collection of books, and he finally found a brick, big enough to be a dictionary, which was titled "Legends of Yesterday`s Cultures". It was very old, as if it dated from 1950. If the library wasn`t regularly cleaned up, it would have been very dusty. No recent edition could be found.

Kevin wondered why such an old book was kept here. Uninterested, he looked around and saw a cute, brown-haired girl with a ponytail. He was about to go to her and say hello, when Michael reminded him about the fact that they were in a library, not a chatroom.

Michael went to the counter to take the book home, showed his library card, and left with the book in his backpack. He left with Kevin towards Batara`s laboratory.

They arrived at the small scientist`s small house, and knocked. Fastos opened the door and greeted them inside. Batara was in the living room, watching his big satellite television. He saw his friends.

"Oh, hi guys, what`s up?"

Michael sat on the sofa and pulled the big book from his bag. He started reading it, carefully flipping the pages.

"Nothing much," Kevin answered. "And you?"

"Well…" He zapped to the international news on his television. The anchorman was announcing that a tiny tornado had hit Berlin.

"That`s where Hyeronimus was doing some research when we were visiting the E.A.S.E. I wonder how Veronica is taking the news. He escaped in time, but he`s psychologically stressed now."

He flipped to another channel. An earthquake had caused many damages to a small portion of an African village. Strangely, the epicenter was a research center planning on purifying the water of Africa.

"One of the American scientists was there. The E.A.S.E. reported that about ten scientists have been attacked by natural disasters. And the number is slowly rising. I fear there`s some kind of conspiracy behind all that. It scares me, as I am always afraid something is going to happen to me." Batara jumped on the sofa. "That`s why, tomorrow evening, as I`ll be testing something at the city`s downtown docks, I`ll bring you two with me."

"What?" Michael said, lifting the eyes off his book.

"Who knows what is going to happen tomorrow?" Batara said. "I have no crystal ball."

Kevin sighed. "Ah, come on, Batara! We`ll probably have homework to do!"

"I`m gonna help you then. I will contact your parents and omit the part about the danger. I`ll just say I need two more people for the experiment. Come on, guys, you gotta help me on that one."

Kevin and Michael sighed. "Okay…" they said. Michael remembered Kevin still had not seen the docks.

"Kevin, you`ll see, Three-Rivers` docks are really cool. You can access the Old Three-Rivers by there and see everything at kilometers around. There`s also many cool restaurants." Michael kept reading the book once more. It will take him a whole month to read that book the size of a dictionary! Batara noticed the old book.

"What is this, Michael?" Batara asked. Michael explained what it was, showed the title to Batara, and kept reading. "Wow, it really looks interesting…" Batara noted.

"Well… it`s just so great. I read in the few first pages that cavemen invented the concept of gods when they tried to understand how everything around them could exist or could happen. A good part of this encyclopedia is about the Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Norse mythologies. It`s extremely interesting."

Kevin yawned. All he liked was action. Of course, all the talking was getting him bored.

"Well, nothing in this book can be very useful, but it is perfect for personal culture," Batara noted. "However, is there anything that is not known yet in this book? I mean, we all heard about the legend of the bewitched canoe, because it`s from Quebec, but what about more… ancient legends that we might have never heard of?"

"Well…" Michael began. "There`s a complete section further where legends created by people of the twentieth century are told, and there is also a section about legends that have never been proven or from which the author himself is unsure of."

"Well, it`s like a fantasy book…" Batara said. "If it is not science-fiction in which I can spot the impossible details or books about quantum physics or multiple sciences, I`m not interested. There is nothing to understand in fantasy books, only a story and impossible events."

Michael seemed offended at first until he remembered his friend was a scientist, and he closed the book. "Anyway, we will leave soon. We were just passing by."

"Well, see you tomorrow, then," Batara said. "Oh wait, don`t you have a free day tomorrow?"

Michael pulled his agenda from his backpack (Kevin momentarily wondered why he was traveling it around), and looked at the upcoming week. "Batara, you`re right! We don`t have school tomorrow… well, we will go help you earlier then."

"Well, goodbye, Batara," Kevin said, leaving. Michael followed. Batara told them goodbye from the doorway and Fastos, even though it was not part of his tasks, waved them goodbye.

***

On the way back, Kevin and Michael stopped by a small park. Kevin immediately noticed something.

"Hey, Michael, look at that! I think I have seen something good."

"What is it?" Michael asked until he looked in the same direction as Kevin. "Your Casanova side is popping up again, isn`t it?"

Kevin was talking about a brunette girl about the age of thirteen, just like them. She was sitting on a bench in the small park, reading a book… Mary Shelley`s Frankenstein.

"It`s the same girl I have seen at the library!" Kevin said. The teenager from Vermont looked at her once more. Her brown hair in a ponytail married perfectly her brown eyes. She had a wonderful face, and was faintly smiling as she was reading an excellent part of her book. Her long-sleeved shirt was more of a pink color. She also wore black jogging pants, as it was somewhat cold outside. It was only the first week of November after all; it was hot enough for that. And besides, the snow hadn`t begun yet falling.

"She`s not ugly, huh?" Kevin whispered to Michael.

"No, she`s not. She`s cute."

"It`s weird, I have the feeling that I have seen her before…" Kevin began.

"I think I have seen her as well, she`s also in Sainte-Esperance High School. I think I have seen her in a hallway."

"She`s really cute," Kevin began. "You think I should go see her?"

Michael comically pushed him toward her. She was at many meters of distance, and that push was only a way to tell him to go for it. Kevin approached the girl. "Um… hi."

She kept reading her book.

"How are you doing?"

She lifted the eyes off her book. "I`m doing well. Now excuse me, I am at a good part of the book where the monster explains how he learned everything by watching a family."

Kevin looked embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. Is it good?"

"Yes, it`s very good; I always liked science fiction, it`s my favorite type of book – but nothing beats when there`s romance added to it," she answered.

"So, do you live somewhere in Three-Rivers?" Kevin asked.

"Well, of course; how else would I come here by foot?" she asked rhetorically. "Now, if you excuse me, I would like to keep reading."

"Oh, sorry," Kevin said, blushing, and he left to Michael. Behind him, Kathy lifted the eyes off the text again and looked at him going away.

"Well, man, she sure was cute. Is that why your interior Casanova suddenly disappeared?" Michael asked.

"Shut up, will you? I`m just talking. I am actually a bit shy with girls. Besides, I know nothing of what she`s reading, so impossible to talk about it with her. Let`s go."

Kevin got on his bicycle, waited for Michael, and they both left the park.

To be continued…

Author`s notes: See? Romance is slowly appearing in this story. This chapter was a bit shorter, I hoped it would be easier to complete but actually it was more complicated. Anyway, keep reading because the second part of this arc will begin soon, and from that one I`m sure I will make a 6000-word chapter. But you`ll have to wait for it however. Read you soon!


	4. Arc 2: Curse of the Chandeliers, part 2

I own everything in this story. A few details are based on already existing stories, but right now, there`s only one - and it refers to a manga. Can you find it?

Arc 2: Curse of the Chandeliers, Part 2

Indeed, the following day, Batara stopped his car at his friends` places to pick them up early in the morning. They were going to help Batara before noon, because the docks were a popular place for Trifluvians, couples or not. The highest bench, located in the Old Three-Rivers, which itself is placed above the city, was regularly used by lovers to watch the Saint Lawrence River. For amateurs of "fine cuisine", there are many restaurants on the mountain-like structure of walls atop which rest the upper-mentioned Old Three-Rivers` Lover`s Bench.

It is in this beautiful area of the city, near the Saint Lawrence River, that Batara was going to test a few things. He had brought some instruments he was going to need for his experiments.

"What do you have to do, Batara?" Kevin asked.

"You wouldn`t understand," Batara answered. "It`s scientist stuff, and I must discover something that has not been discovered yet."

"But…" Michael began. "If the E.A.S.E. scientists have already discovered a whole lot of stuff, it should be very difficult to discover new things, right?"

Batara nodded. "You`re right. That`s why we have a friendly rivalry: We can try to find out flaws on other scientists` creations or discoveries, and find the true reasons."

Kevin smirked. "That`s some kind of prank?"

Batara shook his head. "It`s just a way to clarify some details. It`s no prank. It can insult fellow scientists at times, but it`s like helping each other."

"And, um… why are we here then?" Michael asked.

"Well, some reports said the water from the River contained more dangerous particles than the water of Saint-Maurice River… I will have to take water from this river. No worry, I got some water from the other river as well."

Kevin just didn`t get it. Dangerous particles? The only things that could be dangerous were the fish and the risk to drown. Otherwise, nothing.

"What can be dangerous?" Kevin asked, wondering himself about the answer.

"Well…" Batara began. "You will understand soon enough."

Batara took some of his tools, put them on the ground, and prepared for the experiment. Kevin and Michael didn`t seem too interested, so they both left to look around.

Kevin walked to the end of the dock; many immense boats were resting over the clear waters of the River. Michael arrived near his friend. "That`s huge, huh?"

"Yeah, that`s really a big boat."

"It`s nearly a century old. Sailors used to go in this and travel around the world. Now it`s just for the fun of looking at this thing."

"Anyway," Kevin said, uninterested by the century old water monument, "what else is there to see here?"

"Well… Michael began… "For someone like you, nothing. There`s no real thing to see here."

Kevin turned around, and looked at the tall structure leading to the Old Three-Rivers. "Then how about we go up there and look at those really old houses?"

"It`s not really worth it, it`s like a ghost town, it`s totally empty. Nobody lives up there. Or nobody anymore. Apparently, there was still a bit of population up there fifty years ago."

"Let`s forget about it then."

"But if we have someone to go there with, the highest bench of he structure is the best. You see everything in the horizon, the walkers down, and everything around. You have a clear view from the Laviolette Bridge. And it`s perfect for couples. Hence the nickname people give it: Lovers` Bench."

"Why are you telling me that? We don`t have girlfriends yet."

"And did you think about the girl, Kevin?"

"Which one?"

"The one at the park… it can be a success, who knows?"

Kevin sighed. "We`ll see if I succeed. Now, maybe we should go back to Batara; he might need our help." Then, as they were about to turn away and go help Batara, Kevin saw her. She was reading the same book again, but she was far more advanced than yesterday. Today, she was wearing dark blue jeans for girls and a T-shirt with the logo of Three-Rivers on it. She sure had the city in the blood. She was very cute with her ponytail of brown hair, her brown, busy eyes reading line after line of text in her book, and this look of momentarily total disinterest in anything else than this classic of literature. She was sitting on a bench, not the Lovers` Bench, but a bench on a higher floor of the wooden structure. Michael noticed her as well.

Kevin thought about going to talk to her, but she would probably turn him down like the other day, since she was reading her book again.

"She got good tastes, she`s reading Frankenstein," Michael noted.

"But what is that book about?" Kevin asked, clueless.

"Ask, Batara, I never heard of it completely, I only know it`s someone who creates a monster. Anyway, let`s go."

Batara was still experimenting when his friends arrived. "Oh, guys. How`s it going? Nothing changed since half an hour ago?"

"Nothing, Batara. Do you need help?" Michael offered.

"Well, I sent someone go fill up a bucket with the River`s water. I`m going to test both rivers` waters with a scanner-like invention." Just then a man arrived with a bucket of the Saint Lawrence River`s water. "Thanks," Batara said, giving the man five Canadian bucks. He then took out of his tools a glass container which held about a liter of the Saint Maurice River`s water. He put the latter in the scanner, and soon the results appeared on the digital screen.

"This water is mostly pure: it has clear H20 for the most part, contains four percent of minerals, and only one percent of dangerous matters." He switched the jars, and analyzed the second one. "Hmmm… this water is also pure. It has mainly H20, and three percent of minerals. However… one point five percent of dangerous matters. This water is only a slight bit more polluted."

"Um, Batara, what do you mean exactly by "dangerous matters?"" Kevin asked.

"Mutagen substances, pollution, this kind of thing," the small scientist replied. "The water becomes dangerous at two point five percent of this. But once again I asked for water in the very center of the Rivers, that way it`s impossible to cheat."

"Talking about waters… look at the wave!" Kevin yelled, pointing a big wave coming.

"That happens rarely," Michael said. He had brought his high-definition camera and so he took a picture of the wave… maybe it wasn`t a good idea, because it was coming right on the docks!

"Guys, run!" Kevin yelled.

"It`s gonna engulf us!" Batara yelled.

Kevin just thought about running away. But Michael had a better idea. "We gotta run up the structure and get to the Old Three-Rivers! The wave just can`t get us up there!"

Kevin remembered something however. "And the girl? She`s still reading! I`ll go help her."

"Go, Romeo," Michael said, running to the nearest set of stairs leading to the higher floors of the structure leading to the Old Three-Rivers. Kevin ran to the girl.

"Run, run! Look at the wave!" Kevin yelled at her.

"Yeah, right, good prank," she replied, not lifting the eyes off her book. Then, when she thought she recognized the voice, she looked at Kevin, recognized him (wondering also if he was always wearing the same outfit intentionally), then looked away. The big wave was indeed coming at them. She jumped off from where she was sitting. Kevin grabbed her hand without any gentleman mannerisms, and ran to the nearest way to get to the higher floors. But the wave was going extremely fast now, it was about to hit any time! And when it hit the docks, it caused a minor tsunami. The water engulfed and seemed to rise where the sets of stairs were. Michael and Batara had reached the higher floor, but the wave hit the structure, and in a physics procedure, the water hit them as well. Michael took a picture of the mini tsunami (as if it was time for that!), while Kevin arrived on the higher floor with the girl.

"Here you`re safe," Kevin told her.

"Thanks." She searched on her. "My book!"

Kevin pulled it out of his T-shirt. "Here it is." The girl hugged him.

"Thanks, my hero."

Kevin blushed a bit. "Um… what is your name?"

"I`m Kathy. Nice to meet you. Are those your friends?" She pointed to Michael and Batara.

"Yes, my best friends. Michael and Batara."

After she greeted them, she left, waving goodbye and winking at Kevin.

"Well, she`s quite cute, Casanova," Batara said jokingly. "But we have a more important matter here… what could create a tsunami so far from the ocean? It`s impossible!"

"Well…" Michael began. But he was cut off by an incoming transmission in Batara`s cell phone.

"Hello?" Batara asked after answering.

"Batara Byzlack, you must come to the E.A.S.E. Island immediately! We have an important matter to discuss now!"

"Okay, I`m coming."

"Bring your two friends; every ally we can get can help us."

"Got it." Batara closed the cell phone. "Guys, we have to go to the E.A.S.E. immediately. And you can come as well."

"But, Batara… we have school tomorrow!" Michael exclaimed.

"We will be back just in time for you guys to sleep well before tomorrow, I swear. Or, I hope so."

On this Batara packed up his scientist equipment, his tools and the many items he needed, and with some help from Kevin and Michael, brought the stuff to his small car, in which he stored everything, and they left to Batara`s small house.

***

At home, Batara was done changing his scientist blouse for one that was not wet. As for the teenagers, they passed home to change as well. They lied to their respective parents by saying they were too near the river and a wave splashed them.

Michael was loading his pictures in Batara`s 300gig computer. He had two nice pictures of the mini tsunami. He had also taken a picture of Kathy for Kevin.

Fastos was going around, mopping up the water left behind Batara`s tracks. Next he had to put the clothes on the clothesline. There was enough wind for them to dry, though they will be a bit cooler. Before cleaning up, Fastos gave the teenagers glasses of soft drinks.

"Fastos, please do everything you have to do while we`re gone, okay?"

"Yes, master," the robot replied. There was not much to say, Fastos was really a gentleman when it came to mannerisms. The only time Kevin and Michael saw him be just a tad evil was when Batara added him artificial emotions. It was a mess, when Fastos was angered by a tiny little thing from the teenagers. Luckily, this lasted only two hours. Like most robots, Fastos` programs were not yet used to the robot "feeling" emotions, or rather receiving signals about what should anger Fastos, what should make him sad, what should make him happy, etcetera. The emotion chip on the Artificial Intelligence card had been created by another scientist.

Batara pressed some buttons on the house`s central system, and the backyard somewhat "opened" to reveal a short runway and Batara`s yellow-colored private jet. The teenagers were never used to see that thing. It was just a surprise. Who could guess the otherwise perfectly normal backyard was hiding this? Batara told them, the other day at the E.A.S.E. that it was connected to his laboratory and it was possible to repair the jet whenever it was needed. Also, this was Batara`s private, personal jet. Every E.A.S.E. scientist had one – well, actually they had either a jet, either a boat. As long as teleport devices weren`t created, they needed to find another way to get to the island.

The teenagers got in the jet, Batara took the pilot`s seat, the jet rolled and lifted off the track. Two hours later, at full speed, they reached the E.A.S.E.

The two friends had watched a movie behind, thanks to a DVD player installed in the jet, like it was done to some cars in the past.

Soon the jet landed, and Batara drove it towards the hangar. The Trio came out and immediately ran to the tower. It`s best not to wait too long. Batara opened the door with his fingerprint code, and he let the teenagers enter. Batara rushed them to the escalator, got in with them, closed the door, pressed the button leading to the conference room`s level, waited for them to arrive, and lead them toward the room. He opened the door for them. It was a gigantic room, with enough chairs to welcome trice the UN. The Elder, Miyaru Shigemoto, welcomed them inside. He was surrounded by the four other Elders. On the seat numbered 5, Carlos Cyrano, better known as Oranic, was looking at the trio with an angered look. More scientists were scattered around: McKilt, a Scottish scientist whose real name was Laise; Veronica Valentine, patiently waiting for everyone to be there; Hyeronimus Hetmann, the German scientist; and of course more. William was looking at them through a screen. He was with them by webcam; he had to watch over the security screens. Ten years ago, the E.A.S.E. had bought cameras from the best surveillance company ever, which was named TrapCorp. Strange that a security company has "Trap" in its name, huh? Oh well.

The meeting began. Miyary Shigemoto, the ultimate leader of the E.A.S.E., took the microphone and began talking. "Fellow scientists and other allies! Today is a terrible day for our organization. Natural disasters have hit many of our members; luckily they all escaped or are still alive. However, for all the remaining scientists or those who have survived an attack, we will find the cause to this meteorological disturbance and prevent it from striking again." Miyaru was seriously cool for his 105 years old. He was still top-shape. One could guess he was using Oranic`s youth serum. "Some survivors from said meteorological attack will talk about their experience now." He let the microphone to Hyeronimus. The 25yo scientist stepped behind the microphone.

"Ja, I`fe peen attacked py a tornado!" His German-speaking-English accent sounded a bit funny. "Put it was nothing comical. I surfifed, but really py the skin of my teeth. I hafe no idea what could cause this disturpance put I hope no one else will pe attacked by such a thing." Kevin was trying his best not to laugh. His English wasn`t excellent, with the B turned to P, and the V turned to F. It was silly. He should really use some better English classes. Miyaru took the microphone back.

"Thanks, Hyeronimus. Now, who else has been attacked here?"

Batara raised his hand high enough so the people could see him. It wasn`t enough, so he jumped on the table and rushed to the microphone. But Oranic stopped him dead in his track. "Dwarfara, it`s not your turn."

"Don`t you ever call me Dwarfara, Organic!" Batara responded like a child.

"Calm down, you two!" Miyaru yelled. And when the Eldest yells, everyone listens. "Batara, what happened exactly?"

"I was attacked by a miniature tsunami at the Three-Rivers docks," the small scientist said. "It was quite scary. That`s why you were calling me here, right?"

"Yes," William said. "The satellite of the E.A.S.E. has let us see any disturbances in the weather and the water, and we have seen that giant tidal wave going towards Three-Rivers. We knew you were going there for experiments, so we tried to call you in time."

"It was too late," Batara answered. "But I think Michael took two pictures of the tidal wave."

"Yeah, and… there`s something really weird in them. Look!"

Michael turned on the computer, and showed his two pictures of the tidal wave. One of them was unclear, as it had been taken from height. However, the other one was a clear picture of the incoming wave. Michael pointed to a small portion of the picture. "Look at this."

"We see nothing, idiot teenager," Oranic said, angering Kevin. But Michael just didn't care.

"Do you have any program to zoom in so we see clearly what it is?" Michael asked. Batara nodded. "There`s one in the computer." He showed Michael what to do to get to the program, then selected the picture, and zoomed in to 1000%. The small bump on the wave was actually… a human shape! And Veronica recognized it.

"It looks like… Johnny Jones?"

"That stupid newcomer on the stand of France?" Oranic asked. "Impossible, how could he control water to create a wave?"

"Well, I retraced the arrival of the wave, and it took many turns, as if it was really controlled," William explained. "What`s even weirder is that it came from Devil`s Atoll in Hawaii."

"And?" Batara asked.

"If I zoom in enough with the satellite, I can have a clear picture of what is going on over this atoll."

The picture showed an atoll that strangely was shaped like a skull. It was a small atoll, maybe only a hundred meters wide. It`s tiny. But on it, we could clearly see a humanlike figure, surrounded by two items, and with some sort of electricity from the items to the human.

"Now that`s weird," Veronica said.

However, on the satellite image, the character was now throwing some sort of thunder, and it was going… towards the E.A.S.E.???

Oranic deeply sighed. "That`s amusement for children. It`s all a prank from young minds."

Miyaru Shigemoto looked at Oranic. "Listen well, Oranic. We have no way to prove that this is real. However, if the person on this atoll is really our opponent, then we should receive some thunder anytime soon."

And just as those words were said, a loud rumble was heard outside. The scientists rushed outside as fast as they could, to see an incoming thunderstorm. Batara nearly fainted. He knew it was impossible for a human to use such a move.

Oranic was stunned by what was incoming. "That`s impossible! Illogical! It defies all the laws of reality! How could a human…"

"Well it`s happening, Oranic," Michael said. "That`s all that counts. Wait…" Michael reached for his bag and pulled out Legends of Yesterday`s Cultures.

"No time for that, Michael!" Kevin yelled. "Help me bring Batara inside the tower!"

After Kevin and Michael helped their friend inside the tower and on the Canada stand, and went back out. Thunder was attacking everywhere on the island; strangely, the storm was located to only this island. That was extremely strange.

Since it was too dangerous for them, the whole group of scientists went back in.

"The thunderstorm has destroyed our camouflage, and the main antenna!" William yelled.

"Why caring about this? The thunder is breaking down all our machinery!" Oranic said. "That`s far worse, Minus Einstein."

"I suppose it is time to use one of the E.A.S.E.`s secrets then," Miyaru Shigemoto said. The Eldest left for the escalator, went on the highest floor, which is his office, pressed a security system, and suddenly a force shield formed around the E.A.S.E. It was impossible to pass through it. And the thunder was only hitting it, not harming anything else.

Kevin and Michael were amazed.

"That is the ultimate defense system of the E.A.S.E. Very few people can use it. Only the Eldest can use it," Hyero said. "It was one of the winning discoveries of the contest we have each year between the countries."

Michael was just looking at all this. Then he remembered what he was about to say. He pulled out the big book from his bag. Legends of Yesterday`s Cultures, in all its past glory. He flipped the pages and found the section labeled "Unofficial Legends". He flipped the page until he reached a page that had been half-ripped off, probably by a comical guy who wanted the lower half of the page for himself.

"I know it`s not time for legends and you are people of reason, but this case looks like this legend!" the teenager said, giving the book to Miyaru Shigemoto, who peeked at the page. An old hieroglyph-like picture was on the left page. The right side was a block of text. Miyaru read it out loud.

"In its days of Pharaoh, Arkenahtu, one of the earliest Pharaohs of Egypt, had a long trip to Greece to ask the Greek Gods for some powerful artifacts that could bring him the force he needs. After some praying and begging, the legend says that Arkenahtu got what he asked for, in the form of two chandeliers bearing the Horus eye. The heart-shaped chandeliers resting on a base were golden and were of immense power to the one who would light them up both. Those chandeliers would procure immense strength and godlike powers, as well as control over the elements."

"That`s a legend," Veronica said. "It`s impossible."

"But Johnny used natural disasters from all sorts of elements! A tidal wave, an earthquake, a tornado… now a thunderstorm…"

Miyaru kept reading. "However, this item had one big flaw; the candles lit over it could last extremely long thanks to their magical powers, but once they were put out, the user would die instantly. This is how Zeus himself defeated Arkenahtu, who had sworn to become a god himself. Arkenahtu was mummified following the tradition for Pharaohs, and was kept in his tomb with those two items of great power. However nobody could even get them back because the best trap-makers of the time built a series of traps that no human could get through… However, it has been rumored that… The rest has been ripped off."

"I hate when silly teenagers decide to make a book valueless by ripping off parts of pages or full pages," Oranic commented as the Eldest gave the book back to Michael. "But magic does not exist, no matter the kind, and as such this legend is impossible. Now go wake up the scaredy cat you have for a scientist friend."

Kevin shook Batara, who awoke from his short coma. "What happened?" The round-glassed scientist asked.

"Um, there`s magic around. Are you sure you won`t faint anymore?"

Batara stood up. "After it happens first, I think I will stay on my feet."

"What do we do?" Michael asked, obviously worried.

"We attack! We go to Devil`s Atoll, we battle Johnny, and we intern him in an asylum."

Oranic smirked. "You seem decided to do this, Dwarfara."

"Batara, Oranic. And if I had lesser respect than the one I show toward you, it would have been an awfully long time I would have interned you to an asylum as well." This shut up his rival. "Now, we all get in our best battle ships and we give him the whack of his life."

"Wait, Batara," Miyaru said. "First I need to turn off the defensive force shield."

"But we can get in our machines first, then we will get out right when the force shield will be off, and that way you can turn it back on as soon as we`re gone!"

"Brilliant, Batara," Miyaru Shigemoto said. "We will follow this plan. Scientists, get ready for a decisive battle between technology and magic."

It was useless to say it twice: The whole gang got in their battleships, and got ready for liftoff. Batara got in his private jet. He pressed a few buttons in the cockpit and soon, the jet became a killing machine with machine guns and weapons of all kinds.

The force shield turned off and the battleships all flew away toward Devil`s Atoll, and as soon as they left the island, the force shield was restored.

***

Johnny Jones was… floating over the ground, maintained thanks to a constant ray of power from both chandeliers. He had a godlike figure. His scar was more apparent than ever, and his now ripped clothes gave him a scary look. Not to mention his hair was floating just as much as his body. The Horus eyes on both chandeliers were glowing, and the candles atop them were almost dead now. At best an hour left. That would be enough; he would destroy the E.A.S.E., which would reduce all scientists around the world to nothingness.

That`s when he saw the group of five battleships flying toward his tiny atoll at an alarming speed. His "friends" were going to try to kill him?

"No way!" He yelled, and unleashed a power beam toward the group.

Kevin was surprised. "That`s almost exactly like…"

Michael completed the sentence for him. "...like the "power" you revealed against Despair?"

Kevin opened his eyes wide. "Yes, that`s it. It`s the exact same thing!"

Michael saw the chandeliers. "It`s just like the picture in the book! Shoot them, we gotta destroy those items!"

"Guys, shoot the artifacts!" Batara yelled. Immediately, Hyero`s ship used its machine guns and the German shot the chandeliers, but Johnny Jones was smarter than this; he protected the chandeliers with force fields, and attacked back. A line of fire came out of his hands, and the fire nearly hit Hyero`s ship, but the German avoided it.

"Good!" Michael yelled. "Guys, the only way to defeat him is to survive until the chandeliers are put out by themselves!"

"Roger that, Mike!" William said in his own ship, shooting around, and ready to nuke the scientist. A rocket appeared from below his ship, and it targeted Johnny. The scientist didn`t even flinch. As the bomb was approaching him, he snapped his fingers and the bomb was blown back at the one who threw it. William avoided it in time.

"Wow, he got some cool moves…" Kevin said. However, looks like the thunderstorm that attacked the E.A.S.E. was coming back to the one who threw it first. Or maybe Johnny called it back to strike the ships. Soon the battle field was under a storm, and the random thunder was hitting anywhere.

"Uh oh… we`re in trouble!" Vero yelled.

But Johnny was not going to stop anytime soon. It was now attacking with energy beams and fire. Nothing seemed to stop it.

"Guys, we should all attack at the exact same time!" William yelled. "We can beat him!"

"No, all we can do is survive!" Michael yelled.

"Can you stop yelling?" Vero asked, yelling as well.

"We can try to attack all at the same time however," Batara said. "We have a chance to hit him, if he has a dead angle."

"Okay!" The others said. And they placed all around Johnny. The scientist was spinning around, all while floating.

"Go!" William yelled, and he used all his weapons at the same time. Hyero did the same, same for Vero and the Trio`s battleships as well. Johnny was attacked by a hundred bullets all at the same time.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled out of anger. His force shield grew bigger, greater, and it repelled all the attacks. "Now, you got me angry." The next scene was so bright it could have caused seizure to everyone. A ton of thunders attacked from the clouds and attacked every ship. The pilots felt the shock immediately. Batara released the commands, as the static that was now raiding it was intolerable for his hands. The ships plunged in the ocean. However, luckily, everyone had used the exit button in time and they were now being ejected out of the machine before drowning.

As Batara had passed out again, Kevin rapidly caught him before drowning and swam with him to the Devil`s Atoll. He looked around; everyone was fine. Everyone but Batara, whose small hands had a few burns to them.

Everyone faced Johnny. He was really scary, floating thanks to the chandeliers, and covered in a bright yellow aura.

"You stupid scientists," he said. The spectators could do nothing. One move and they would be toast. "You welcome new members every year, and then, as long as they`re young, you control them like puppets! You always need to know where we are, what we are doing… That`s stupid!"

Vero tried to reason with him. "It`s a safety precaution to ensure we do not bring in our organization some wring people…"

"SHUT UP!" Johnny yelled, angry. He was now glowing along with his aura. "You already did! What about Oranic? That old man was always intimidating me, bossing me around, like a brute in a school`s playing field! And now, I think the Earth will be far better without the E.A.S.E., its cruel scientists, and its dangerous discoveries!"

However, in the sky, the clouds began shaping themselves. Johnny was unaware of this, much like everyone else. However they could feel the changes over their head and see the clouds constantly change shape over them, though they could not see what they were shaping now. The figure looked like a human, and it threw a thunder from its hand. Johnny vacuumed the thunder, which made him even stronger. However, nobody knew what happened.

"That`s enough!" Johnny yelled, creating a tidal wave by controlling the elements. "I will drown you all and then I will come over the E.A.S.E. myself and kill the Eldest and that Oranic!"

The tidal wave was growing greater, and greater… it was now extremely tall, and ready to engulf everything. It`s just then that Johnny noticed something strange happening. His aura flashed a bit more, then bugged, as if it was only an effect, and one of the chandeliers stopped completely. The candle was out, burnt entirely, and its wax was dripping down the golden artifact, leaking down. Johnny lost balance for a moment, as only one chandelier was keeping him in the air. But the next chandelier also stopped, and the flame disappeared. The candle was out. Johnny fell on the ground, just as the tidal wave sunk back in the ocean and disappeared. They all thought they were done with it… but no. The chandeliers suddenly glowed very bright, and they both struck Johnny with a ray, killing him. The scientist fell on the ground of Devil`s Atoll. And the chandeliers stopped glowing… forever.

Kevin ran to the chandeliers, grabbed the first one, and threw it far enough for it to sink in the water. He did the same thing with the second chandelier. Kevin looked at Johnny`s body. It was already in decomposition.

"How do we come back to the E.A.S.E.?" Hyero asked. "All our ships have sunk."

Batara awoke. "I have my E.A.S.E. cell phone in my pockets. Please, dial for me, I can do nothing, my hands hurt."

"Okay," Michael said. He dialed the number of Miyaru Shigemoto (or he picked it in the list) and, after a short chit-chat, Miyaru swore he was coming with a ship for them.

And indeed, half an hour later, he arrived. Everyone embarked in the ship. Kevin and Michael helped Batara inside and they left for the E.A.S.E. Kevin asked how fast he could get there, and Miyaru said they were trying to reach the speed of light, but they still were not any time near.

The ship lifted off, and the group left for the E.A.S.E. Well, actually, Miyaru decided to send Kevin, Michael and Batara directly to the latter`s house, and the others left for the E.A.S.E. The lifeless body of Johnny was left there, already decomposing.

However, below the sea level of Devil`s Atoll, a strange light began glowing. Exactly where the chandeliers had been thrown.

***

Due to them arriving quite late at home, Kevin and Michael nearly overslept the following day, which was a Tuesday (the other day they did not have school). It`s with dark circles under the eyes that they entered the school.

Their first two classes were painfully long, as they felt more like sleeping on the desk instead of listening to the teacher. Luckily, they could stay awake for the whole class.

Finally the bell to the recess rang, and the teenagers stormed outside. Actually, they walked at a slow pace toward the exit. They were very tired.

When they stepped out, they saw Kathy, who was being hit on by Calvin.

"You know, I scored ten touchdowns last season," the older teenager was saying.

"Do I look like caring?" Kathy angrily responded. "Football is a sport for brainless muscle mountains."

The fat bully didn`t get it.

"Will I have to slap you?" Kathy asked. "Get away and flirt with cheerleaders, will you?"

Calvin left, angered. "If you knew about my family, you would not refuse!"

Kevin talked to Michael. "Fast, what`s the story of the book Frankenstein?"

"I asked Batara yesterday, it`s a scientist who create a monstrous creature and has to destroy it because it ruins his life, killing his brother, his father, his love… and so on, after he decided it would be terrible to make a woman for the monster."

"Thanks." And he went to Kathy. "Hello."

"Oh, hi Kevin," she said. "You look tired."

"Yeah, I went to sleep late yesterday. So, did Frankenstein kill the monster?" he asked.

"Well, he died before he could achieve this goal. I suppose you never read it?"

"Well, no… I just heard of it," Kevin confessed. However he got like a flash. "However, Kathy, I find it a little strange that you are always around, wherever I am out…"

Kathy blushed. "Are you saying I`m spying on you?" she asked. "And why wouldn`t I do that, huh? You think I`m a stalker or something?"

Kevin backed a step. "No, I…"

"You are really trying to anger me, huh?" Kathy said. "Why would I spy on you anyway? You saved me once; we met by luck two times… Get away before I kick you off my field of vision!"

Kevin left. "Well, that`s a failure…" Kevin said. "I`d say I have no chance with her…"

Michael sighed. "Well, at least you tried. Who knows, maybe she`ll have forgotten in some months."

Kevin deeply sighed.

Author`s notes: Arc 2 is complete. It was another short arc. Next arc will also be two chapters long.

Okay, now we have a lot more mysteries that unravel all at the same time. We have Kathy, who seems to appear everywhere Kevin is. That`s only an example. By re-reading the two chapters you can find a whole lot more things that haven`t been revealed yet and which can be revealed either in Arc 3, either later.

Arc 3 will be called The God of Robots, and I will let you guess what it is about. However, that`s an overstatement. The God of Robots is only aBRRRRZT… (transmission cut off)


	5. Arc 3: The God of Robots, part 1

Disclaimer: Everything is mine. The idea of the building comes from Robots, itself a movie based on Isaac Asimov`s books. You know the three laws of robots? Maybe I`ll mention them one day...

But enough talking, read this brand new Arc!

* * *

Arc 3: The God of Robots, Part 1

Note: this happens in January 2050. Get in mind that the characters, when outside, are wearing coats and tuques.

Also, on a fanfiction note, the forum about this fic is up: .net/forum/The_Trio_Robots/72868/ It should be a good place to stop by, as I am always watching there for new posts. If you like how the story is going and you wish to share an opinion or make a character, go there, you should not regret it.

…Koopaangel, you`ll be happy, there`s a part in this chapter where Fastos has a slightly more important role.

* * *

"I lift my glass for tomorrow!" Batara said, lifting his glass of champagne high over his head." No fair. He was thirty-three yet he did look like a kid, though he could drink champagne, and Kevin and Michael were stuck with soft drinks. He had brought them to this fancy restaurant, paying for the food. He had ordered filet mignon. He was really celebrating his biggest creation yet. But Kevin and Michael just felt "meh" about it. Their friend sure said he had been thinking of this project for years, and he finally could achieve it, but it was not too interesting for the teenagers.

"There`s nothing extraordinary in this. It`s just a human-shaped building," Michael said.

"Correction: The first human-shaped, self-powering, walking building," Batara said with a smirk. "I am going to name it the God of Robots, because it is exactly like a very tall robot." He was humble, that could be seen in his eyes. "…and tomorrow I will inaugurate the greatest fitness center Three-Rivers has ever seen!"

"There was one before," Michael refuted. "Fitness Center Alphonse-Desjardins is a big one, you know."

"It will be even better!" Batara said happily. "It will be on seven floors. Actually, six floors, the highest one will be the brain for manual control."

"Manual control?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, I mentioned this building could walk. Well, apart from the control panel I always keep in my laboratory and which lets me control the robot from a distance, the robot`s "brain", or the highest floor of the building, is a place where I can control the robot manually, like a giant. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I suppose," Kevin replied. "But… it can power itself?"

"Yes! That`s almost magical," Batara commented. "You see, the robot can move, so it is not caught in the ground. This means it is not linked to any hydroelectric power plant. It would break off the wires. If I ever need to move the robot, what will I do? That`s when I created some sort of self-powering device that will produce electricity for all the machines that need it and the building itself. The energy is partly created from the many people using the stationary bicycles. The energy created by this is stored in a machine where the heart should be on a human, and used for the many electric devices and plugs in the robot."

Kevin thought it was brilliant, simply because of the long explanation. He didn't understand much of it. Michael, however, understood and congratulated Batara. "You are a genius," he told his friend.

"Don`t say that, you`ll pump my ego and it will no more fit in the door," Batara said. "I just want to tell you that this project meant a lot to me, and it`s finally done. That`s why I wanted to celebrate in this fancy restaurant, with my two best friends, for my success."

They were all done with their dinner, so they decided to leave. They left fifteen percent of tip on the table (which means they maybe left twenty bucks) and left to pay the bill. However, on their way out, they met three girls. One of them had long, untied blond hair down to her shoulders. She was cute with her blue eyes, and she wore a blue long-sleeved top and beige pants. Like her friends, she had probably left her coat and her boots to the waiters, as the restaurant had a coat check service. The taller one, who was maybe thirty years old as we could guess, had auburn hair like Batara. However, she was very tall, maybe six feet tall, and she had some belly. She was not obese, but at eye view, she maybe weighted a hundred and ninety pounds.

The astonishing thing about them is that the blonde girl looked a lot like Michael, and the woman was totally different from Batara. But they could all recognize the third girl. It was Kathy.

"Oh, hey Kevin!" Kathy said on a happy tone. "How`s it doing?"

Kevin didn`t particularly like Kathy. It looked like she was popping up everywhere he was, like she was some sort of stalker or spy. It was not funny at all.

"What are you doing here? Three-Rivers is a big city, how could you just decide to come here?"

"Can`t I come to party with my friends?" Kathy answered by asking him something else. This left Kevin speechless, as he had no idea what to say. However, he could see the two other girls looking at his friends. He could see a noticeable resemblance between Michelle and Michael. They were so alike that they looked like siblings.

"Here`s Michelle and Bertha," Kathy said. "Michelle and I are friends since we were in fourth year. As for Bertha, we met her maybe one month ago. She said she was testing some experiment."

It then struck Batara. He had already seen Bertha; she was at the S.I.M.P.L.E., the organization just below the E.A.S.E. That is, all the new scientists of the E.A.S.E. began at the S.I.M.P.L.E., and if the quality of their discoveries or creations increases, they are promoted to the higher level. Bertha was still stuck on a lower step. Maybe one day she would become a full-time scientist. But for now, she just couldn`t discover anything worthy enough.

"Now, please, let us pass," Kathy said. "We have reserved a table."

"Wait a second!" Kevin said, losing his temper. "It all sounds fishy. First I see you everywhere I am, and then you come here, with two friends who remind me of mine at first sight! What`s the goal?"

"Well…" Katy said. "I was looking at you. With this dwarf scientist and your other friend. You already made me think of myself with Michelle, a friendship that does not seem to end, but when we met Bertha, I realized we were exactly like your Trio."

"So this is not a young child?" Bertha asked about Batara.

"Hey!" Batara yelled. "I am a scientist of the E.A.S.E.!"

"Oh, sorry," Bertha said. "You just look so juvenile… how old are you?"

"I`m thirty-two, and my name is Batara Byzlack, for your information."

"Batara…" Bertha repeated out loud. "Batara Byzlack… oh yes, the scientist. I remember, I have seen you yesterday on television, talking about the opening of your "latest discovery" I think."

"Exactly, madam," Batara said. "No need to be there though. Less people mean less stress for me. Okay, guys, we have nothing to do here anymore, besides we got to pay the bill."

So the guys left, but the girls turned around to look at them leaving.

***

As promised, the following day was a busy day for Batara, as he was holding a conference in front of his robot. Like the usual opening ceremonies, the robot was surrounded by a red tape, and a small stage had been built near, with a microphone for Batara. Amongst the many Three-Rivers journalists, one could see Sophie Smith, patiently waiting for her questions to be answered. She was easily distinguishable by her brown ponytail hair inserted in her winter coat, her noticeable squared glasses and her microphone that followed her everywhere when it came to interviews.

Batara looked at the golden scissors coming to him on a red, fluffy cushion. The scientist grabbed the scissors (which were nearly as tall as him, no kidding) and cut the tape. This was followed by acclaims from the audience. Batara looked at the scissors, it was comically written "don`t run with me" on it. He smirked. That kind of unexpected joke was always fun.

The conference began. Batara explained with better words everything he told his friends the evening before. He insisted on the fact that this building could walk and be controlled thanks to a control panel. He also insisted on the self-power technology that could let this robot. Finally, he answered the many questions from the journalists. One of them raised his hand, and asked his question after saying for which journal he was working.

"What is the security of the establishment? Do you have any security guard?"

"Do not worry about this," Batara said. He pressed a button on a remote control, and immediately a tough-looking robot in blue colors and a paint job that resembled a police officer uniform, arrived.

"This robot can plug itself in a wall and feed on the energy collected in the building`s "heart". However, it has great strength and it can use anything around to protect the place if needed. There is maybe one robot like this per floor. And that`s enough. But for the strength, let me show you."

He called two men who brought a heavy dumbbell which must weigh maybe a hundred and fifty pounds. They put it in front of the robot, and it lifted the dumbbell without any problem.

"You see? This is what I call being strong. That`s why I believe it`s a good defense, added to the fact that those robots cannot feel emotions, which means they`ll never let anyone pass, no matter who it is."

Sophie Smith lifted her hand. "I see a great hole in the robot`s right hand. What is it for?"

"This? It`s a cannon." Batara had said this sternly, as if it was nothing special. Journalists whispered to each other. "I figured that this cannon could be useful. We never know, if the city is attacked by an enemy or something similar…"

"Is this some sort of paranoia?" Sophie asked.

"Actually, it`s my little "mad scientist" side that makes me add a little something dangerous to my creation. Beats me why. However, I know it is dangerous. When shot in the ground directly, the attack could cause an earthquake that would damage Three-Rivers. But it is not as bad is if it could reach the tectonic plaques and break one, which would lead to the entire destruction of the city, maybe the whole province, a good part of Canada and a part of the United States. This, in my opinion, is impossible."

The journalists were not too reassured about this. Even Kevin and Michel, who were watching Batara, face-palmed when they understood he just had sunk himself by saying his creation could be a weapon of mass destruction.

However, the scientist caught up to this by saying: "However, the only way to shoot is by using the control panel, and it is in my laboratory, at home. Nobody but me has access to it. It is not even part of the controls in the brain."

"Because the highest floor is the brain?" another journalist asked.

"Indeed, it`s a place where we can stop the robot if it is being piloted by someone with bad intentions. But it cannot happen as the control panel is safe in my laboratory. It`s impossible."

"But the architects said the Titanic was unsinkable, yet we know what happened," someone else pointed out, defying Batara`s confidence.

"This robot is not a boat, and it is not going to sink. The only thing that can sink is the trust people have toward me if it indeed happens. But it`s proven to be impossible."

Sure that he had said a good speech, Batara left. He had answered enough questions to journalists. His friends of course joined him.

"Batara, you just sunk yourself," Michael said. "Saying that thing is a walking, giant weapon… why did you put the cannon in there in the first place?"

"The Mad Scientist Mental Illness… we pretty much all have it, at different grades. Oranic`s is at one of the highest grades."

"And that`s what makes you add a little something dangerous to your creations?"

"Sort of. I`m at the lowest grades. But Oranic, with his ideas of world domination, is always dangerous."

It`s just then that the Trio saw Kathy pass near them. She of course noticed Kevin, despite the tuque covering his hair, and greeted him.

"Hi, Kathy," Kevin said coldly. "Why are you here?"

"Geez, are you always suspicious or it`s just normal with you?" Kathy replied. "Sheesh… I had watched the conference, despite the cold, and I wanted to be one of the first to enter this all-new fitness center." She pointed them to her bag, which obviously contained shorts and a spare T-shirt, as well as shoes.

"She can enter now, the building is officially inaugurated, so there`s no problem."

"Okay, okay…" Kevin said. He now really doubted about Kathy: was she a spy or something in this track?

Batara sighed. "Okay guys, now that we can enter, let me show you around the building." He opened the door for them and let them in, then entered and closed the door behind. The robotic security was anything but human, and it was scary. Batara showed them many rooms where we could see fitness equipment and dumbbells carefully placed around.

"You know," Batara explained, "most of the rooms are placed in the legs and the chest. In the legs because the robot will never move, and if it moves, its legs will stay straight and not fold. This way the rooms don`t break, and the escalator also stays straight. But for the escalator, it`s normal. After all, it can`t all of a sudden change its position."

"Yeah, that`s logical…" Michael commented. After entering the escalator, they went up a few levels, then stopped in the robot`s "chest".

"There are also sets of stairs all around. That way, if the escalator stops working, people can go down by the stairs. It`s like any normal place." Batara walked to a door on which a heart had been painted.

"Self-explanatory…" Batara said, opening the door. Heavy machinery could be seen there, as well as hundreds of wires leading to a big machine that was heart-shaped as well. "Everything here says that it`s the robot`s heart system, the one from which it can store energy and use it in the electronic machines of the fitness rooms and other machines, and also for when the robot is moving."

Batara lead them to a staircase, which they climbed, and soon reached the "brain". Kevin and Michael saw the hundreds of buttons. There were many buttons and joysticks for the arms and the legs; it was even possible to control the whole robot from there. There was a heavy lever written On/Off. "This is the lever that turns off the robot if anything bad happens. But since I`m sure it will be useless, it will probably get dusty." Kevin chuckled.

On this, as their visit of the main places in the robot was completed, they went down ad left.

***

Batara was at home that night. Fastos had prepared beef bourguignon with microwave potatoes, gravy and a green salad with bacon bits and Caesar vinaigrette. A perfect meal for a hungry scientist.

"Fastos, I`ll never tell you enough, but adding the contents of a cook book in your memory was one of my greatest ideas yet. You`re a real cordon bleu."

"Thanks, master," Fastos said. If he could express happiness, his mouth would form a half-circle, but his physiognomy does not let this happen. His mouth can only move like an anime character, by opening and closing without any other gesture when he`s talking. Also, due to the manly voice Batara gave him, Fastos can be treated like a man. "I will go get the glass and the wine."

"Go, go. I am going to taste your culinary work during that time." As Fastos left, Batara took a bite on the beef, and immediately liked the taste. "My best idea ever was to make Fastos my personal cook, my housekeeper, a householder, and a helper for anything else." Just then, as the grasshopper-like robot arrived with a glass of wine for his master, Batara lifted a thumb up. "Your cooking is delicious, Fastos. If you were an employee, I`d give you a bonus."

"This is really unnecessary, master. I am your employee in a sense, but I am also a robot, and who would pay a robot?"

"Good question, Fastos. But maybe the question will find an answer one day. Maybe in many years robots will be paid. The true question is: what would they do with the money?"

"My artificial intelligence did not thing of this question, however," Fastos admitted. His artificial intelligence of course let him ask questions, but that does not mean it let him always find the answer or separate questions.

Batara ate nearly everything on his plate. He was very hungry that night. But he was not done yet. Fastos had prepared a chocolate cake some days ago, and there was still one half remaining. Batara was not much of a sugar eater, so the pieces he asked Fastos were usually not very big. He also asked for a glass of milk, which Fastos brought him. When Batara was done, he suggested he`d help Fastos with the dishes.

"No, master, you do not need to help me. I was programmed to do what you ask me to, and after so many years at your service, I know that after each meal you want me to do the dishes."

"I insist, our conversation during dinner made me think, and maybe I could help you once in a while."

"I repeat that you do not need to. I am made for that."

"Let me at least bring the dirty dishes to the kitchen. I know you can`t realize I am trying to be nice to my servant, but let me at least do that to show my gratitude. Besides, your meal was so excellent that I just have to help you a little."

"If you wish so, master Batara," Fastos said, accepting his creator`s help.

Batara put the plates in a pile and placed them on the counter. And when the dinner table was cleared of all dirty plates, Batara left for his laboratory, leaving Fastos to do the dishes… because Batara was against the use of a dishwasher, as he knew it was using too much water. Sometimes technology is awesome, but other times it`s better to live the old way.

After Fastos was done with the dishes, he went down the stairs, down to the laboratory, as Batara was there, probably fiddling something new.

"Master, I am done with the dishes."

"Good work, Fastos. That`s another thing I like about you. You work fast and well at the same time."

"Thanks."

Batara turned to him. "Can you help me a bit? I am trying to build a special laser that can corrupt the robotic programs when used."

"You want to test this on me?" Fastos said with the anger his emotions chip could make him mimic.

"No, I`m just saying that I need a bit of help in building it."

Fastos approached and Batara gave him small orders, to which Fastos responded. He handed his master the tools he needed, as an example. When Batara showed the tiny object, Fastos could only wonder what it was for. Batara pressed the small button on it, and a red laser appeared from it.

"Lasers have been invented many years ago, master Batara," Fastos pointed out.

"That one is special," Batara said. "When pointed on a robot, where the circuit and chips, as well as the electronic cards are, it is possible to disable the robots` function and thus, make them defenseless. It can literally kill their program."

"Why did you create such a weapon, master?" Fastos asked Batara.

"Well, with the many rebellious robot alerts, I frequently have to travel around the world, and so I need to create an item that will let me disable any opposing robot as soon as possible so no human dies."

"It is the ultimate weapon against robots, is that it?" Fastos asked.

"That`s exactly it," Batara approved. "I think about commercializing it."

"Okay, master," Fastos said. "I hope your new invention becomes popular."

"It probably will. Thanks, Fastos."

"That`s nothing."

Batara lead them both out of the laboratory. On the way he decided to talk a bit with his servant. "You know, Fastos, all the discussion made me think…"

"Yes?" Fastos asked.

"Well… Not only you are my servant, but you are also the one robot I trust the most. You will always be by my side, as if you were really a living being."

"And your friends, master Batara?" Fastos asked. "Are they at my rank or higher?" He suddenly looked worried, with his eyes.

"That`s why mentioned "robot". My friends are at the highest level. I will always trust them; there is no danger with them. After all, they`re not like Oranic…"

"But… what you said earlier…" Fastos said, not connecting both ideas.

"It`s different. You are a robot, and you are my servant. I trust you like a friend, actually more, because you work here. You even know the code to my laboratory, something my human friend don`t. You have the access to everything here, simply because you work here. I really trust you, but in a master-servant positive relationship. It`s not the same as with my human pals; it`s friend relationship."

"I shall never understand what human relationships are…" Fastos said, mimicking a sigh.

Batara looked at the hour. "Hmm… it`s already nine. Tomorrow I have a big day, I`m going to present my new invention to get a brevet."

Batara left in his room, right to his bed, and drifted to sleep in a matter of minutes. As for Fastos, he cleaned up around the place and passed the vacuum cleaner. After he did that, he looked around the laboratory to see that everything was around. Finally, as his final duty of the day, and this since twelve years, he locked all the doors leading outside and the windows. He opened the trap on his belly, pulled out a wire with a plug from it, plugged himself in a wall, moved the hand to the On/Off lever located in his torso, and turned himself off.

***

Batara opened the eyes the next day, a Sunday. He felt youthful, in top shape. However, as he opened the curtains, he saw journalists scattered around his front lawn. Some saw him and knocked even more at the door. Batara got dressed in a split second, ran down the stairs, and nearly tripped on Fastos` unmoving body. He unplugged his servant in a split second, turned him to On, and closed the door on its chest.

"Thanks, master," Fastos said. "I know only you can turn me back to On."

"That`s nothing, Fastos. But what`s going on outside?" Batara yelled.

"I do not know. I have been to Off for the whole night, starting at eleven yesterday night. I could not see a thing, as everything in me was turned off."

"Okay, I`ll just turn the television on the regional news."

Batara did so as the journalists were becoming very annoying, as they were still knocking at the door, and probably thinking about breaking it open and enter by force. Batara watched the news. He saw something really bad. His building was roaming the city, destroying a lot of things around, and apparently, it was self-controlled! Batara understood the journalists wanted to talk to him about all that. He had to escape. The Medias would skin him dead and ruin his entire reputation, if they were to interview him! They would find out about Batara`s not so perfect defense system he had bragged about, and he would lose all the credibility he gained throughout the years!

Batara had to think up a plan, and fast. That`s when he remembered about the Hoverboard he had built some time ago. It was an improved Hoverboard, the size of a surfboard and not a skateboard, which had reactors on the end of it, and which could also fly at many heights. The straps were metallic and could sprout from it, giving protection against the fall. Because of the speed it was going, it was very cold on it. Also the height reached by it didn`t help. But Batara was ready to face it if it meant saving the city.

Rapidly he went down to his laboratory, and opened a secret pass on the wall. This could let him enter the underground hangar where his jet is held. It has been rebuilt some time after Johnny`s attack on the E.A.S.E., also thanks to some of the scientists of the place. There he unveiled his Hoverboard. But before he could even do that, he packed in a backpack many items one would need for the crazy plan he had. But what was this plan? He was going to tell Kevin about it. Because the man of action required for the task was Kevin, and no one else. He`s adventurous enough for the task. Once his backpack ready, Batara jumped on his Hoverboard, the straps appearing immediately, and an opening appeared from the ceiling, which let the scientist hover at great speeds towards Kevin`s house. Fastos waved him goodbye, hoping the small scientist would survive.

Batara hovered so fast that he reached Kevin`s house in ten minutes. He landed and knocked at the teenager`s door. Strangely, it was Kevin who answered, and not Kathryn, his mother.

"Batara?" Kevin asked. He was in pajama pants and a red shirt he had probably put on very fast, as it was inside out.

"No, asking, but I need your help, Kevin. You know, the building I inaugurated yesterday?"

"Yes?"

"IT`S MOVING AND THERE`S NOTHING TO STOP IT, IT`S GONNA DESTROY THE CITY!"

"OUCH!" Kevin yelled. "Quit yelling, you`ll tell the whole neighborhood." He noticed his shirt was inside out, so he removed it, put it back to normal, and turned to Batara. "Okay. So, what do you want me to do?"

Batara removed the backpack from his shoulders and closed the door behind him. "Listen, I have prepared a plan. But it is very important that you follow it perfectly. Or else you might die, and my reputation is already at stake with everything happening now."

Kevin listened to his plan.

"You`ll enter the robot, from a foot, then you`ll climb your way up by using the stairs, and you`ll get to the brain, so you can pull the On/Off lever. Understood?" Batara asked. He had said that sentence at a high debit, it was nearly impossible to understand.

Kevin sat on a chair. "I lost it at the first "You`ll"."

Batara sighed. "Listen, you are going to enter the robot. I can find a way to let you in, even if the robot is moving."

"Got it," Kevin said, nodding.

"Next part of the plan, you make your way up to the brain."

"So I get to the highest floor. Understood."

"Then you pull the On/Off lever. As simple as that."

"But… what if the robot falls? Won`t it kill me?" Kevin asked.

"That`s where my mind comes in the picture," Batara said. He opened his backpack, revealing a few items, but which could all be of use. First he pulled some big magnets that were connected to some sort of guns.

"This is a small creation of mine. You press the trigger, and the magnet is thrown toward a metallic wall. It`s held to the gun by a steel rope. You just have to press the button here…" He pointed to a button on the gun. "…and since the magnet will not get removed from the wall, it will pull you toward the wall."

Next, Batara pulled out the laser he had built. "That`s against the robotic guards. Press the button when the laser is hitting their eyes or their heads, and this should turn them off or break their circuits."

Batara pulled out a few more objects, and explained what they were for. Finally he pulled out a remote control with a single button and an antenna. "This will be for your escape. You see, if the robot is falling, press the button. And the Hoverboard you see here will come to get you, so you can land safely on the ground."

"I have only one thing to say, Batara…" Kevin began. "YOU`RE CRAZY OR WHAT?"

"Sorry, Kevin, I needed a man of action, and you were the only one to fill the role. Besides, while you`ll be in there…" He pulled out an earphone. "…I`ll tell you information through this. You`ll always be connected to me and I`ll be able to tell you what to do if you have problems. I had been planning this whole robot since many years, and I won`t let an enemy ruin my project!"

Kevin deeply sighed."Okay. So, how will I enter that walking thing?"

Batara explained. "You get on my Hoverboard, I help you get in, then you`re all by yourself.

"Okay… let`s go."

***

After ten more minutes of hoverboarding, Kevin saw the building. It was rabid. Or actually, it could be if it could express emotions. Batara lowered the Hoverboard down to the robot`s foot, trying to get to the beat and move up and down with the door on the robot`s foot. Batara handed the backpack to Kevin, the teenager let his own feet get unstrapped from the Hoverboard, and in a single move, he jumped from the Hoverboard to the door`s handle. However, as the foot was constantly moving, Kevin could fall anytime. Luckily the teenager found a way to grab both handles, let himself holding the other handle while he was opening the door, and he got in. In the robot`s left foot, it was constantly moving. Kevin could feel it, and it was making him seasick.

He could feel the floor below him moving, and he was dragged from a side to another. "Kevin! Are you okay?" Batara asked him from the earphone. "Plug the tiny microphone on your cheek so you can talk to me as well."

Kevin did so and replied. "I`m okay… but I feel like in a boat during a storm. It`s hell here."

"It`s only because the legs are constantly moving, Kevin. Once you`ll be in the robot`s pelvis, and higher, up to the torso, it will stop. All you need to do is get up the staircase."

"Got it!" Kevin said. He looked at the small watch given to him by Batara. It was clearly indicating 11:00 AM.

***

Batara hurriedly hovered towards Michal`s house. He knew it was too risky to get back to the lab, as the journalists would have entered by now, finding him nowhere. Maybe Fastos had to explain things. If Batara wanted to face off the journalists, he would need the help of Michael. He would explain the situation. Then he`d convince everyone that Kevin would save everything.

He rang at Michael`s door, and it was actually Mario, Michael`s father, who answered. After short presentations, Batara explained he had to talk with Michael. Michael arrived, also stopping his dog Rosy from tackling the scientist for a death lick attack. Michael put on a black and red coat as well as a blue tuque and silver-colored boots, as he knew Batara would talk to him outside the house.

Batara dragged Michael away, and told him the whole situation about the robot, but omitting Kevin`s position.

"Yeah, I know. I was watching the news just minutes before you arrived, and it`s all over the regional news. What I don`t get though, it`s who could have done that."

"Same for me," Batara said. "It`s really strange, and scary. But I sent Kevin in the robot, so he should arrange everything."

Michael paused a second. "YOU`RE CRAZY OR WHAT?" He yelled.

"You know, he told me the exact same thing this morning, with the same hundred and eighteen decibels." He paused. "Listen, I gave him everything that was needed to succeed. His backpack is full, and when he`ll escape there`s something to help him. Besides, I know him. Someone who vanquished a robot like Despair should find this mission piece of cake."

Batara put on the earphone and the microphone. "Kevin, are you okay?"

"Yes I am," he replied from the earphone. "I`m just trying to get used to the movement. I think I already vomited twice. If that was a ride at La Ronde, I would never get in."

"Okay… You are still in the leg?"

"Yes… the stairs are moving too much, I`m constantly thrown from a side to the other."

"Okay. I got Michael, we`ll rush to my laboratory and follow you on a screen. No worry, we`ll do everything we can."

"Thanks."

On this, Batara and Michael jumped on the Hoverboard. Sadly, Michael has vertigo, so it was impossible for the Hoverboard to rise too high from the ground. Still, twenty minutes after they left Michael`s house, the duo arrived at the scientist`s house. Only to be assailed by the hoard of journalists.

* * *

Author`s notes: Hoo haa hey! I`m leaving this part 1 on a cliffhanger! How do you like it? Don`t forget to tell me in the reviews!

You can now notice all the plot details that are being added over time. This third adventure of the Trio is very important for later. However, I can`t tell more about it… but many tings will be revealed in part 2 of Arc 3. That means:

Stay tuned, because it`s coming! I should be posting it this Monday. If not, then it`s because something happened and I couldn`t. Maybe an Easter family reunion. Maybe my parents` ambition to see me raking leaves for a whole day… but I`ll spend the next four days at writing the next and last part of this Arc!

You read, now review!


	6. Arc 3: The God of Robots, part 2

Arc 3: The God of Robots, Part 2

Note: Another Arc being ended at the second chapter. But no worry, Arc 4 will be three chapters long. Not to mention the final Arc is going to be six chapters long! All you need to do is stay tuned!

I had been trying to post this chapter Monday, but I got a few writer`s block problems. I also spent the weekend I wanted to write in at doing something totally different: raking leaves. How I hate when my parents give me a chore when I feel like there`s a chore awaiting me already.

* * *

The journalists literally attacked Michael and Batara. The questions came from everywhere.

"What is your feeling on the fact that your security system isn`t as great as you thought?"

"Was the robot`s attack part of a mad scientist plan?"

"What are you going to do now that your reputation has sunk?"

Batara sighed.

"Listen, this afternoon I will answer to only one journalist. Which means: you have two hours to decide which one of you all will interview me. You can even share questions to that one journalist. However, I am on the case, and I will do everything needed. This is the reason why I am asking for two hours of spare time."

On this, Batara opened the door, noticing it wasn`t even locked, entered with Michael behind him, and closed the door, locking it well.

"Okay. We get down to the laboratory, and we follow Kevin through the task. Also, we can try to find out who could have done that." Batara brought them inside the laboratory. "Fastos, can you bring us lemonade?"

"Of course, master." Fastos then left the laboratory to answer to his master`s demand. Batara went on a big-screened computer.

"That`s where I stored the map of the God of Robots."

"God of Robots?" Michael asked.

"That`s the name I had given to the building, since it was the biggest robot ever. Finally, as it was deemed not humble enough, so I just gave it no name. You don`t remember about that?"

"No…" Michael said.

"Oh well… Listen, we have two hours to find out what happened. I will still be talking with Kevin with the earphone." He put the microphone back on, and asked Kevin: "Is everything going well in there?"

"It`s been an hour," Kevin said. "You know I just could find a way to climb the stairs?"

"Okay. You keep going. As for us, we`ll find out who did the whole thing, okay?"

"Got it."

* * *

Kevin heard the connection interrupt, so he decided to keep going. The robot had been walking around the city for a long time now, maybe it was in Madeleine`s Cap, a section of Three-Rivers. Or maybe it was in the higher Three-Rivers. However, he really had to climb up. Finally, he put the feet on the steps. The leg`s constant rocking made it very difficult. But after all the time he took to adjust to the feeling, he was now ready to go up and stop the robot. After many harsh efforts in trying to climb, he could get to the first floor. But he still had more stairs to climb, technically, as it all began on the second floor actually. So he climbed again, and he was happy when he finally reached the robot`s pelvis. He could of course see that the robot`s legs were giving straight to the middle lower belly. He had no problem with doors.

Finally, he felt the place stopped moving as he was not in a moving part of the robot. He sighed of happiness. The seasickness was gone. He decided he could climb the stairs once again, so he moved toward the staircase and began going up… until he bumped into someone he really did not want to meet at this time.

"You!" They both yelled at the exact same time.

"Kathy!"

"Kevin!" she replied.

"Okay, one, what are you doing here?" Kevin asked with a serious look.

"You want to know? I could get a pass to have the whole place for me tonight, all that thanks to relations. And you?"

"Batara sent me here to stop the robot from its path of destruction."

"You are always acting heroic, aren`t you?" Kathy asked.

"Yes. And two, you`re always popping up everywhere I am, and that`s driving me crazy," Kevin replied on the same ironic tone.

"Whatever," Kathy said. "Listen, I don`t want you to think I am spying. It`s total coincidence."

"And is it coincidence that I find you here, in the walking robot? Just as it was supposedly empty?"

Kathy took an angry look. "A girl can`t anymore reserve something for a night without someone telling her it`s not a thing to do? Listen to me." She grabbed Kevin by the shirt and looked at him in the eyes with a ferocious expression. "Not only you have no reason of suspecting me of anything, you are as suspicious as me. After all, what doesn`t tell me Batara himself isn`t the one who decided to start up the robot tonight?"

"What?" Kevin asked, no more sure what to think. Just then he got a call from Batara from the earphone.

"Kev, what is happening in there? I can here a second voice!"

"Guess who is in the robot?" Kevin asked. "Miss Spy herself, Kathy!"

"WHAT?" Michael and Batara yelled.

"You use a transmitter to talk to your friends?" Kathy asked. "Now look who`s acting like a spy for real!" She yelled, lifting an accusing finger at the boy.

"I`ll explain it all later," Kevin said. "Now, my mission is to get to the brain and turn the robot off."

"Well said, Kevin," Batara said in the earphone. "Now you have to hurry."

"Okay." To Kathy: "Listen, I still hate you, but if we want to survive, we have to help each other."

"I also hate you. But you`re right on the whole thing. We have to help each other."

"Fine. Let`s go." Kevin ran to the staircase again, and then began climbing it. Kathy followed.

* * *

Batara stopped the transmission and took a sip from his glass of lemonade. "Okay. The true task here is to find out who could have stolen the control board. For this one of us will stay constantly in contact with Kevin while tracking down the board thanks to a chip I especially added in it so I never lose it. The other will watch the security cameras because they have noticed something if somebody entered the laboratory."

"I`ll do the cameras," Michael said.

Batara too a few minutes to explain how the camera system worked, all he had to do was to watch the pictures taken by the cameras (usually those were only taken when the cameras saw something move), and spot anything that could have moved. Mostly something that looked suspect.

As Michael began this task, Batara set down in front of a tracking device and pressed the switch. On the machine, the screen now showed a full map of a flat Earth, like a globe being unfolded and put on a table, no more round but as flat as a sheet. He began looking for what had been stolen. If a red dot was appearing on the map, that`s where the control board could be found. That`s where it could have been brought at by the one who stole it.

As Batara was searching country after country on the world map, Michael was watching each camera`s pictures. He was often zooming in and out when he could see suspicious things. However, usually it was only Fastos cleaning up around, with a stereotypical feather duster, or it was the end of a vacuum tube.

The servant was going around, sometimes looking at Batara`s task, sometimes looking at Michael`s job. Michael was switching from camera to camera, carefully watching for anything strange, when he finally found out a nice picture of the robbers. "Batara, come here!"

Batara arrived beside his friend. "What is it?"

"Look!" Michael said. The cameras were lighting up the pictures so it was possible to see clearly all the robots` features. Batara zoomed on the robots, revealing, on their heads, a symbol of infinity with an O over it.

"That`s Oranic`s personal seal. That means he`s the one who did this. There`s only one way to know where he is, as we scientists still have to tell the elders of E.A.S.E. where we are." Batara dialed the cell phone number of Miyaru Shigemoto.

"Hello?" the scientist asked.

"Hi, sensei Shigemoto." That was a comical name he had given to the old man as he looked like a sage and a Japanese leader or, if you prefer, a sensei. "I wanted to know where I could find Carlos Cyrano."

"Young Batara, you should know very well that we keep most of our scientists` locations secret. I can not reveal you where your rival is."

"Yes, but…" Batara began. "He has done something really cruel to me; he entered my place and stole the control board of my latest creation. I have to get it back."

"I should not help you, I know this," Miyaru said. "But you are right however, what belongs to you should not have been stolen, might it be important or not. Besides, I really dislike his acting; it lacks the honor we Elders should show every time. I will tell you."

"Thanks." Batara waited for some seconds.

"Are you still there, Batara? He is not on Earth. Actually, he is flying in a pod he had been working on since some time, and which works like a UFO. It is one of his latest creations, based on an already made discovery."

"Okay," Batara said. "Just tell me the coordinates of his location and we will go there."

Miyaru did so, and Batara thanked him. Batara immediately found the coordinates on the map, and using a Google Maps-like satellite view, he could see the ship; it had a round shape and it was small.

"We`re going to follow its track and attack it in an hour. For now, I have to contact Kevin to tell him about this discovery." Batara put on the earphone again. "Kevin, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, if you forget the fact that Miss Spy is a total nagger."

Batara could hear a "Hey!" behind Kevin.

"Anyway," Kevin continued, "We`re still in the lower torso. We had a few disagreements and we kept arguing about who should do what."

"Yeah, well… do you have any idea where the robot is in Three-Rivers now?"

"No. Remember, I`m here since only eight months."

"I think we`re on the Hippodrome parking lot," Kathy said.

"Anyway, we should get going," Kevin said, ending the conversation. The teenager turned to Kathy. "I thought we agreed on the fact that we had to go up?"

"Oh yes, I almost forgot. Your IQ was so low that I had to get to that level."

"If you were a guy, I`d make you lose a few teeth, you know."

"Another advantage in being a girl," Kathy said, showing her tongue to him. Kevin replied by sticking out his tongue too. "All you do I can do better," Kathy added.

"Yeah? We`ll see that!" Kevin yelled, and he ran to the staircase. Luckily on the pelvis portion of the robot`s body, it was not moving. Kathy ran after Kevin, and they both got to the next floor, where could be found the main fitness rooms. However, just as they reached this floor, Batara called Kevin.

"Kevin, be careful, since you were not there tonight, they will think you are an intruder and attack you. Take out the laser I have put in your bag! Hurry!"

Kevin didn`t even have time to reply that a hoard of five guard robots had popped in from a room. "Uh oh…" Kathy said. "I saw them guard like nice policemen, but what about their fighting abilities?"

The robots arrived at full speed toward them. Kevin tried to avoid some robots, but sadly one of them bumped right into him. His bag fell away, near Kathy.

"Kathy! Search in the bag!" Kevin yelled before screaming of pain. The guard robot had hit him like a truck.

"And why would I listen to you?"

"Do you want to die?" Kevin asked.

Kathy stood silent. "Good point. But they have nothing to do with me."

"And why so?" Kevin asked, rising back on his feet.

"Because I was there first, they know about my pass." She showed the membership card she got from the very first day (which, ironically, was just yesterday).

"Idiot," Kevin said. "Even I can guess that the robots will think that since you were the only one in there, you could have been plotting something!" Actually, it`s Batara who said this information to Kevin thanks to the earphone. "And since they think you are an intruder as well, they will attack you too." Batara was telling Kevin about this, and he was just saying it to Kathy as if he knew it himself.

"Ah, okay…" Kathy said until she noticed two robot cops (no pun intended) coming at her. Instead of running away, as Kevin expected she would do, she got into a battle stance and said: "Come here, you two!"

The robots approached, and she kicked them quite hard. However, it was not enough to keep them away, as they just stroke back. Kathy was going to be punched when Kevin, lightning-fast, grabbed her and dragged her away.

"You owe me one, miss pretentious."

"Are you done anytime soon with your "miss"? You`re really getting on my nerves, mister Imzebest."

Kevin chuckled. That joke sucked!" Just then he remembered the robots running at them. Kevin took his backpack from Kathy, searched in it and found the thing he needed. He pulled the gun-like gadget that had a big, round, flat magnet coming out of the cannon.

"Now that looks like a spy gadget," Kathy commented.

Kevin looked around. Two robots were now aiming at them and approaching… rapidly, he grabbed Kathy by the waist, not without a "Hey!" from her, pointed the gun to the ceiling and pulled the trigger. The magnet hit the ceiling and got stuck there. The robots were coming very fast… So Kevin pressed the button on the gun, and the unraveled iron rope that came out of it was reeled back in, sending them toward the ceiling and high enough for the robots to miss them. Better than that, the robots couldn`t stop and smashed each other.

"Why this?" Kathy asked.

"Either I grabbed you by the waist to pull you up, either you were hit."

"Another point for you," Kathy admitted.

Kevin looked down: the two robots were a mess. However, there were still three more to get rid of. Kevin told Kathy: "Look in the bag. Try to find the laser thingy."

"What?" Kathy asked. Kevin grabbed the bag, then searched in it, to pull out the small laser Batara had built.

"Time to see if this thing really works like Batara said." Kevin made a "come here" sign with his hand, toward the raging robot cops, and they came. However, as soon as one reached Kevin, the teenager pointed to the robot`s head with the laser and pressed the button. He had no idea what happened, but the robot suddenly fell to its knees, apparently broken.

"That`s a cool gadget," Kathy said. "Do you want to let me try it?" Kevin threw it in the direction and she caught it. "That`s a yes?" And she pointed it toward another robot`s head. As she pressed the button, the robot fell down, broken inside. "That`s quite the cool thing," she commented, throwing it at Kevin, who broke the final robot`s circuits with it.

"Batara`s gonna rack in a lot of cash with that new invention. Heard that, man?"

"I heard it!" Batara said from the earphone. "It`s good news. Fastos was worried I would try it on him. But not only had we test bots, it also helped you overcome some enemies. Cool."

"Okay, so it`s time to move on now. Girls go first." Kevin pointed to the staircase.

Kathy got an angry look. "You grab me by the waist, and then you get all gallant and let me go first? Really, what`s the big deal with you?"

Kevin sighed. "Are you turning everything into… what`s the word?"

Michael arrived behind Batara and said in the microphone: "…melodramatic?"

"Yes, that`s it," Kevin said. "Why are you always so melodramathing, huh? Can`t you just try and seem normal?"

"You are the one who isn`t normal! I`m not the one who survived a crazed robot`s attack!"

"Yeah, well at least I… what?" Kevin asked.

Kathy sat on a nearby metal bench. "I`ll tell you later. If we want to turn off this giant, we need to rest. I`m a bit exhausted."

"Yeah, me too."

And Kevin sat beside Kathy. He had to admit it, she was very cute. But it was not time to think about this, they were still in the moving building. And what if they could not win? What if it was impossible to reach the brain? He was lost in those thought when Batara spoke to him by earphone.

"Listen, Kevin, just do your best to reach the highest floor. As for me and Michel, we got someone to chase."

Fastos arrived in the laboratory. "Master Batara, the journalists claim that it is time for their chosen member to enter for the interview. Should I let this person inside?"

"Do so, Fastos," Batara answered. "But I won`t answer any question until I have my hands on the control panel again."

Fastos left for the ground floor and opened the door for the journalist. It was Sophie Smith, probably because she had already been interviewing Batara in the past. The brown-haired, square-glassed journalist entered with her microphone.

"We have finally decided that I would be the one interviewing mister Byzlack," she said, entering. "I suppose he still is in his laboratory?"

"Yes. He has been studying the case with his teenage friend, and he discovered some key details about it. He should be up soon."

"He better come in the next minutes, or else we will destroy his reputation. Or what is left of it. You know, the building was estimated to cost millions of dollars, and such a loss will make people angry, it`s like money spent for nothing."

"I know, master Batara had planned such costs about the building when he drew the blueprints."

However, in the laboratory, Batara was very stressed out. "I hate having to talk about my own mistakes… so unless we leave without being noticed, and we get the control board back here, I won`t answer."

Michael shook Batara. "You`re in the thirty-third below already, Batara! Do you want to kill all the trust they still have for you?"

Batara shook his head. "It`s personal. You wouldn`t understand. You don`t have an enemy that always ruins your life."

Michael sighed. "Teenagers don`t have it easy either, let me tell you. At Sainte-Esperance High School, I have an enemy, just like Oranic`s your enemy."

"What do you mean?"

"His name is Calvin, I never knew his family name. He`s a dumb bully who never stops bullying around, and taxing the younger students. I really hate that."

"You know, that`s exactly like my problems with Oranic, he is older than me so he thinks he can ask for respect, then he always tries to ruin younger scientists` creations, and finally, just because he`s an elder, he thinks he can boss us around." Batara pressed a button hidden in the laboratory`s wall, and so a wall opened to reveal the underground hangar where his own airship was held. "We`re going to chase Oranic and get my control board back before I answer any question. I`ll also wait for Kevin to turn off the robot. So, just get in the new airship, more a battleship, and we`ll fly away."

"Okay!" Michael said. The teenager got in the cockpit, and took the copilot`s seat. Batara sat beside him, on the pilot`s seat.

"Well, let`s go pay Carlos a visit."

In front of the house, the journalists were sure Batara was being interviewed. However, inside, Sophie Smith was getting angry at Fastos. "Isn`t he coming?" she yelled. "What is he doing, an extremely hard Sudoku?"

"No, he should be ready at any time, madam Smith," Fastos replied. "Mind if I serve you another glass of lemonade?"

"No thanks, I should really be interviewing your "master". If, of course, he`s not scared to appear."

But she was facing toward the front lawn. The lawn behind was opening, revealing Batara`s flying ship. All the journalists outside could see it. However, as soon as some of them tried to run to it, the ship took flight and left.

Fastos turned to the journalist. "I remember something, my master told me he wanted to be interviewed after he corrected a little something."

"WHAT?" Sophie yelled. "He swore he agreed to be interviewed!"

But she could not really do a thing; Batara and Michael were already leaving toward Oranic`s ship.

* * *

Back in the God of Robots, Kevin and Kathy were getting prepared for the rest.

"You know, Kevin," Kathy began, "maybe there`s a way to turn the robot down without going to the brain. I remember the conference."

"Yeah… so?" Kevin asked.

"Remember, your small friend said the "heart" in the robot was what was giving it some power. If we cut off the power, the robot will shut down itself."

Kevin thought of it. It made sense, it was possible. Finally, he told Kathy they were going to go with that plan.

"That also means we have to get to next floor," Kevin pointed out.

"That`s right," Kathy said. And she headed towards the staircase. Kevin rushed to get in the staircase before her. She growled. As he turned to her and nearly tripped down the stairs, she explained why she growled. "Where is gone your gallantry, mister K?"

"Down the drain," Kevin replied, not thinking about what to answer. And he resumed climbing up the staircase. Behind him, an angry Kathy was running to the stair case, climbing it at a faster pace. Soon she caught up to him.

"You really better not make me angry, Kevin," she warned him. "Believe me, you don`t want to see a girl angry."

"Okay, okay…" Kevin said just as they both reached the fourth floor. "Here we are." Kevin turned on the earphone and talked to Batara. "Hey, Batara, we`re gonna try something else. Maybe we can turn the robot off without reaching the brain." However he had no answer.

"Maybe we can unplug the heart so the robot loses power and it falls down as it has no more enough energy to move," Kathy said, not knowing that Batara had his own earphone turned off.

"If I remember well, the heart room must be somewhere around here," Kevin said. He finally saw the door with a heart shape over it. "Here we are." He moved for the handle, and tried opening the door, but it was locked. Kevin put his backpack on the floor. "Stupid door! Will you open?"

Kathy grabbed the bag and searched in it. She pulled out a key from one of the pockets. "Is this what you need?" She threw the key to Kevin, who caught it and unlocked the door. He opened it. "You wanted gallantry? Well get in first."

"Wait a minute! What`s telling me you`re not going to lock the door once I`m in?"

Kevin growled. "And why would I do that exactly? Oh, too bad for you." He entered first, and looked at the heart-shaped machine that was connected to hundreds of wires. "So you say we just have to cut all those wires?" Kevin asked Kathy.

"Well, it should work." Kathy approached some wires and cut them off just by grabbing them and pulling. She was strong, and Kevin was surprised to see such strength in a girl. Maybe she was good for him. Who knows? Maybe, if they get out of this adventure alive, he`ll pay it back to her. He also began cutting the wires around the heart.

After a few minutes, there were only a few wires left, Kevin grabbed the last wires and cut them with this hands. They were not really solid. However, as soon as he was done with the final wires, the heart worked even harder all of a sudden. The noise from it became stronger. And strangely, nothing stopped. Batara joined Kevin from the earphone.

"The only way to turn the robot off is from the lever in the brain, Kevin. I know you`re in the heart, trying to unplug it, but it won`t work. When it`s totally unplugged, it uses the energy it has stored, and it has stored a lot thanks to yesterday`s opening."

"You could have told me earlier, Batara…" Kevin said.

"I did. I told you about the energy storage. Unless you can remove the heart machine from its base, there is no way to turn off the robot."

Kathy heard this. "So, the energy is stored in the "heart" thing?" She tried to remove it, but it was literally fused with the base.

"It`s impossible to remove it, it`s stuck in the base and the base itself is stuck in the floor. Don`t try a thing and run to the brain!"

Kevin agreed. He let Kathy get out first, and then left the room as well.

"Um… where are you, Batara? I can hear motors."

* * *

"We`re in Oranic`s flying machine."

And indeed they were. Batara had landed his own machine inside… a good salve of Batara`s battleship`s cannons had blown a big hole in Oranic`s airship.

"We`ll get the control panel or board back at all costs. Anyway…"

"Batara," someone said. The small scientist would have recognized this voice any time.

He turned to face his rival Oranic.

"Cyrano, what are you doing again?" Batara asked. Oranic punched Batara, and the smaller scientist was caught by Michael.

"I`m killing your reputation, what else? Between rivals, that`s what we do after all."

Batara wiped off some blood off his nose. He was bleeding.

"That`s the lowest you can go, Organic," Batara said. This earned him another punch.

"You talk too much, youngster," the old scientist said. For an eighty-seven years old scientist, no doubt on it, Oranic was healthy. The old scientist took a sip from his vodka bottle (which contained anything but vodka) and prepared to fight. "Come and show me how angry you are, you`ll just get thrown off my ship!"

Batara was angry, that was true. He jumped on Oranic and tried to punch him, but the youthful energy of the senior citizen.

"I`m gonna help you, Batara!" Michael said. But the teenager was a bit too scared to attack. "I`ll find a way. Um… keep fighting!" He encouraged his friend. Michael noticed the control board at a distance and ran to it. If he could hide it in Batara`s ship without Oranic noticing, then it would be a success.

Batara was punching Oranic, but the elder was not feeling any pain. Oranic, however, was punching hard, and Batara could feel it. His glasses had fallen off and without those bottle-bottom-shaped glasses, it was weird, as rarely we were seeing him glasses-less. But the two scientists kept punching each other. Finally, Oranic grabbed Batara by the blouse and lifted him in the air. Batara could feel Oranic`s powerful hand on his scientist blouse. Oranic threw Batara away, and the younger scientist fell near the hole that had been made by his own battleship. Oranic approached Batara and was ready to throw him down to the ground, which was probably ten kilometers lower. Oranic grabbed Batara and readied to throw him off, but in a surprise move, Michael hit him behind the head with a crowbar picked up beside the machine. Oranic fell on the floor, and released Batara.

"Phew… thanks, Michael. You were of a great help."

"That`s nothing, Batara. Anything for a friend. Now help me bring the control board inside your ship."

Michael and Batara ran to the board and pushed it toward the battleship. Batara pressed a button and a panel of the battleship opened, which let them get the machine inside. But before they could do it, Oranic woke. He was bleeding a bit and the red of his blood was scary when dripping off his white laurel-disposed hair.

Oranic rose up on his feet, and in a swift movement, pressed some buttons in the control panel before Michael and Batara had put it in the ship. A countdown appeared on the screen. It was showing an hour.

"In an hour, the God of Robots will shoot up in the air, and the huge cannonball will strike down when falling. Guess the rest?"

Batara knew it. "At this power, the deflagration of the cannonball can hit the tectonic plaques and destroy everything in a radius of a thousand kilometers!"

"Exactly," Oranic said. And I locked the On/Off button of the board. Impossible to stop it with the board."

Michael tried to attack Oranic again with the crowbar, but Oranic caught the crowbar, slipped it off Michael`s hands, and threw it away. "I thought Kevin was the heroic one of the Trio? Where is that youngster?"

But Michael and Batara were already in the flying ship`s cockpit, ready to leave. Oranic went away. "He will never stop the God of Robots in an hour, there is no way for that," he said. "Good luck for your return on the soon-annihilated province of Quebec!"

The ship left, and Oranic just smirked. His plan was perfect, and nothing could stop it. Nothing could save the world. Next he would use the God of Robots to menace governments and have everything he desires. And if they refused… ka-boom! Really, nothing normal could stop his plan, he knew it. Just an hour. A single hour and he would achieve world domination.

On the way back, Batara tried to contact Kevin. "Kevin! Kevin! Answer! Are you in the brain?"

* * *

Kevin was still with Kathy inside the robot, but one level under the brain. They were almost there, but exhausted. Kevin had removed the earphone, or actually, Katy had removed it from him.

"We have to talk, Kev."

"But shouldn`t we turn the robot off first?"

"No. We have to quit lying and wasting time. Get to the point. Why are you always calling me a spy?"Kathy had that look of an angry girl ready to do anything to have clear answers. Kevin thought for seconds.

"I find it weird that you seem to always appear wherever I am. And I thought you were spying on me, that`s all," Kevin said. "But then why are you always near everywhere I am?"

"Because…" Kathy thought. "I was jealous of you."

"Jealous?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, jealous. I love action but my life is boring. And you`re fighting against things, you face off enemies… I had been watching the Robot Wars on television."

Kevin recalled the day when the Trio controlled Despair against some enemies and won a tournament. "Yeah, that was pretty cool."

Kathy paused. "Yes, but I also remember when I saw you on the news, in the park. You had defeated that tall robot…"

"Despair?"

"Yes, him. I was just jealous that you could always be in action. Months later, when I saw you in the library, I recognized you. Later at the park, it was just a lucky encounter, but I recognized you too late."

"That doesn`t explain at the Three-Rivers docks during the tidal wave…" Kevin pointed out.

"I was there before you! I was reading Frankenstein, remember? But when I saw you arrive with your friends… I just did as if I had seen nothing. Listen, I was surprised. Just like you when you saw the big wave coming. And at the restaurant, it was also a lucky encounter, I never thought you three would be there! Bertha was inviting us."

"Okay, okay," Kevin ended. "Now that we know the truth, can you give me my earphone back?" Kathy gave him. "Thanks." Kevin put it and turned it on.

"KEVIN! ANSWER!" Batara was yelling in the earphone.

"What?" Kevin asked.

Batara sighed in relief. "Phew, for once I feared you would be dead. Oranic has started a count down. If you do nothing, the robot is going to shoot up in the air and destroy the whole Three-Rivers!"

"Uh oh… Okay, I`m running!" Kevin said. But he was caught by Kathy.

"We are running then," Kathy said in Kevin`s microphone.

However, Michael looked on the countdown. "Batara, is it normal that it`s already at forty minutes? It`s not even been ten minutes…"

Batara didn`t turn to Michael, but still asked "What?"

"Well… for what I see here, the seconds go down… three… two… one… thirty minutes left?"

"Oh no… Oranic bugged the count down screen so the number digit and the ten-minutes digit are inverted… they don`t have thirty minutes to act but three minutes! Kevin, HURRY!"

Kevin was in front of the door with Kathy. He was desperately searching in the bag for the key that opened the door to the brain. The door was of course labeled with a picture of a brain.

"Trying, trying… Where is the damn key?" Kevin asked.

Kathy stole the bag from him and found the key in a few seconds. "Is this what you were searching for?"

Kevin took the key set from her hand and unlocked the door. They entered the brain to see through the robot`s "eyes". It was heading towards the Hippodrome. It was on the higher Three-Rivers but according to Batara`s calculations, no matter where on Three-Rivers the ball would be shot from, if it was shot up it would still destroy the whole city and maybe even Montreal and Quebec. Kevin could see a hundred of buttons and levers, however none of those were working. Kevin tried to press buttons, but it`s like the robot had an already designed path and was acting along it.

Kathy saw the On/Off lever. "Here it is!" She pointed to the lever, and Kevin approached it.

"Kevin, you have only one minute to stop it!" Michael yelled in the earphone. "Hurry!"

Kevin looked again at the lever; it had to be pushed at least at two or three feet of distance. Oh why had Batara made such a long lever? It was more useless than anything else. Kevin tried to push it, but it was too hard for him alone. "Kathy, help me!" he told Kathy.

The girl approached. "You are not strong enough for that, big boy?"

"NO TIME TO JOKE, KATHY! YOU HELP ME OR WE ALL DIE!" Kevin said, breaking a fuse.

"Sheesh, okay…" Kathy said, helping Kevin. She could see from the robot`s eyes that the arms were placing themselves over the head. The robot was pointing its right hand up in the air, and its left arm was used to keep it up. She pushed the lever a few inches with Kevin.

"Ten seconds!" Michael yelled.

Kevin and Kathy were forcing the lever so the robot stops. But the lever was so heavy, a bodybuilder would have problems pushing it. Both teenagers were wondering why Batara had made it so complicated. But they kept pushing it towards Off.

Outside, the robot was probably preparing to shoot. People were running away, journalists were expecting the worst…

The teenagers were almost done. But soon a loud BOOM knocked them away from the lever; the robot had shot. The huge cannonball was blasted at an extreme height. Too high for it to be seen anymore. However, it was going to fall down in some seconds.

Kevin and Kathy finally pulled the lever to Off. Just then they realized they were too late… and they had failed.

"We are going to die…" Kathy said, grabbing Kevin by the red shirt. "I don`t want to die without kissing anyone!" She was obviously panicking now. She didn`t even know what she was talking about. Looks like she didn`t even care that her rival was the one she was about to kiss. But Kathy stopped right in her track, seconds before her lips pressed his. "Why are your pupils red all of a sudden?"

Kevin was surprised by the last statement. "Red pupils?" It all struck him: he remembered what happened with Despair some time ago. That means it`s happening again! Wait, maybe that`s the key! That`s how he will save Three-Rivers! And a big part of his world! He pushed Kathy aside. "You will see something now, Kathy. My special trick."

Kevin moved to the lever, and pulled it back to On without any problem. Huh, it was either the power; either it needed to move once to be easier then. Kevin then somehow connected to the robot with a magical means. He has no idea what he did; all he knows is that when he got in the very center of the room, the robot began doing everything he was doing. He was lifting the left arm; the robot was doing this as well. He was tilting his head, and the robot was… much to Kathy`s troubles.

Kathy noticed this, and found it very strange. However, she remembered about something she found in the backpack when looking for the keys. She pulled a remote control with a single button. Questioning herself about it, she pressed it. Immediately, the Hoverboard broke free from Batara`s home laboratory (with the journalists noticing it of course) and went at full-speed toward the robot.

Kevin lifted his two arms up in the air, and created a mini force shield over it. Much to his surprise, the robot lifted its arms over the head, but Kevin had created a far larger force shield that covered the hands. Then Kevin broke the connection he had made with the huge robot, and the robot kept the pose instead of him. Kevin, now very tired, fell on the ground.

Kathy saw this and hurried to him. She looked at his pupils: They were now a mix of red and brown. She looked at the emergency exit: a metallic door labeled "EXIT" could be seen where the robot`s ear rested. "I suppose that`s the only exit." She dragged Kevin there, and opened the door. She looked down and yelled. It was so high! She didn`t have vertigo but it was scary. Luckily the arm wasn`t close enough to block the way. Batara`s Hoverboard was already waiting for them to jump in. Kathy didn`t have time to think… we could hear the cannonball approaching the ground. She jumped on the Hoverboard and immediately, straps appeared over her feet; she could not fall. She carefully placed Kevin on the Hoverboard, behind her, and straps also appeared on his feet. He was holding on to her.

Rapidly she left the place. On the way, she controlled the Hoverboard to turn around. She could see the scene: the robot had its arms up and had a strange-looking magical force shield over the hands. It was waiting for the bullet. She heard the bullet whistling from the fall, and she expected the impact to destroy the robot. However, strangely, the force shield began… disintegrating the bullet? The cannonball was severely damaged now, but the force shield could no more stand it. When it disappeared, the cannonball hit the robot with all the force it had left. The robot was destroyed almost instantly, from hands to head to feet, and the cannonball reached the ground, luckily causing a minimal earthquake only in the zone of the Hippodrome. Nobody was there that day, so nobody died. Talk about lucky. But she could see the small buildings get destroyed in this zone. Well, they had been lucky. On no other word, Kathy decided to bring Kevin at Batara`s laboratory, but since she had no idea where it was, she decided to bring him home. He had just awoken. She asked him for directions and he told her where he lived.

* * *

Three days later, Kevin and Michael left school and took the bus to Batara`s laboratory. They had decided to stop there to chat about everything that happened. Kevin found it weird that Kathy no more talked to him… had she been creeped out by that unusual power he used? He would ask Batara about it. No, wrong idea, he would just not believe it. They finally arrived at the scientist`s house, knocked, were answered by Fastos, and entered.

Batara was watching the news. Only bad news about his robot were shown. The scientist turned off the television. "Hi guys. I was waiting for you two… how has life been treating you since three days?"

"Kathy no more talks to me, I have no idea what happened in the robot, but I`m alive, that`s all that counts," Kevin said.

"Same here. What happened to the control board, Batara?"

"I destroyed it. The thing it controlled now rests in pieces, if you get the pun. Anyway, it`s hell for me."

"Why so?" Michael asked.

"The robot is destroyed, so it`s sixty-four million dollars spent for nothing from the government, and many people will hate me for building such a dangerous thing. As for the journalists, I overcame my fear and I told them the whole truth: why I escaped so often and also what I did to stop it. I told them the true hero was you, Kevin, because you manually stopped the robot and risked your life. But they didn`t believe me. Finally, some touristic places have been destroyed a nd a crater of some size has been made in the Hippodrome fields, which means they`ll have to find another place for Three-Rivers` Expo Fair. Otherwise, I also told everyone about Oranic`s crazy plan, and I suppose they did not believe me again. But I know many others will believe me."

"Who?" Kevin asked.

"The scientists of the E.A.S.E. They`ll be searching for Oranic in the next few weeks, believe me. He`ll have asked for it. I just wonder if he is going to find a great hideout…"

* * *

In another neighborhood of the city…

"I might have to stay here some more days," Carlos Cyrano said to someone. "I think you know what it`s like to be searched for a crime."

It was impossible yet to know who he was talking to.

"I understand… granduncle Carlos," the other one said. It came out of the darkness to reveal a bully well known at Sainte-Esperance High School… his bandana and his skull black shirt weren`t unnoticeable. It was Calvin.

"Thanks, grandnephew Calvin Cyrano," the scientist ended. "No matter how low your IQ is, you sure know how to help the family." The Elder smirked, as he was already planning a new move for his worldtaking diabolical schemes.

* * *

Author`s notes

Another chapter completed. This ends Arc 3, and not only this, but it also clears up a few more mysteries. Now you know why Kathy appeared everywhere, and you also know what Calvin meant when he said, at the end of chapter 2, that he had some great family members.

However, even though this Arc answered a few questions, you can still ask yourself questions about other mysteries that have appeared.

Also, I am proud to say that now, there are many possible couples. Some are evident while others will slowly progress. But you might have to wait…

Arc number 4 will not contain the Trio-Girls; however it will prominently feature a character that had a lesser importance by now. It will also be the arrival of four new enemies. I will begin it when the review count is at 6. But I`ll stop talking before the connection interrBRRRZZZTRRZBBRZT…


	7. Arc 4: Hostages in Japan, part 1

I own a huge part of this story. A few ideas are taken from already existing works (and I don`t mean only movies, television, games, mangas or books!)

I am extremely sorry for the long wait. That`s what happens when you cross a writer`s block with a ton of homework, added to a lack of time to write and an overdose of Sonic forum RPing. I will try to complete this Arc next week, if I can`t complete it this week.

The truth is that this Arc is extremely difficult to write as it focuses on a less important character, and nothing has been really well-planned. I`m nearly writing from scratch. I suppose it is the less elaborate Arc of all 10 arcs.

THis arc happens in March 2050, during the spring break.

* * *

Arc 4: Hostages in Japan, Part 1

A Japanese woman was walking in the streets of Tokyo. She was keeping a few thousand yens in her wallet, as she was back from the bank, and had to spend for ramen and sushi. Not that this was extremely expensive, but she always liked to have more cash on her. After all, when your father is a rich robotics expert, you can get a part of the money, right? This woman happened to be as gifted as her father, and she had helped a lot around Japan, working for companies who now used robots in ads, as a way to prove their technological superiority. Some of those companies have passed through the economical crisis of `10 (intended to be 2010 for those who could not guess it) and survived, amongst them her father`s company.

After the Japanese woman did the groceries and bought everything she needed, she left for home, holding her purse on a shoulder and two reusable bags on each hand. She felt quite lucky that food from her country was not very weighty. However, the sidewalks were overflowed with people coming from work, so she had to use small, less used streets. She passed in a stereotypical dark alley, not believing the rumor saying that there is always someone evil in those alleys. After she left the dark alley, she kept walking. However, two or three human shapes came from the dark and began chasing the woman.

Suddenly the woman walked faster as if she knew there was something chasing her. But the figures followed her. They were wearing trench coats and white gloves. Their faces could not be seen. They also wore large pants and huge boots. The robbers were chasing her now. The woman tried to escape. But the enemies were speeding up, and as such the woman was now running. The woman looked behind her, and she saw her enemies nearing her. However she tripped on a piece of junk on the ground and fell to her knees. Her hands scratched, and her purse on the floor, the woman could only turn around to look at her followers. In a swift move she grabbed her purse and, in a heroic movement, she grabbed her purse, searched only a few seconds in it, and threw a handful of yens at them, yelling in Japanese: "Here, take my yens, I don`t care! You can get them!"

The chasers didn`t even blink or ran for the money, and they answered in the same tone, all at the same time:

"Your yens do not interest us. It is you we came for."

Two of them grabbed her hands, and dragged her away. She was constantly trying to get freed from her aggressors.

"It is no need to try to get freed," the bulkier one said. "We are bringing you to a special place."

The woman was now extremely stressed. Who were those men? Were they going to try to rape her? Out of stress, she shook her arms enough to get freed from the grip of one of her assailants. Rapidly she tried to get freed from the other hand, but when she tried to get freed, she grabbed his arm… it was solid. Worried even more, she panicked and passed her hand in the sleeve. The "skin" was cold… and metallic. Had she been kidnapped by robots? She tried to at least pull a bit the glove holding her. But all she could see was white. White robots? It was impossible. Those couldn`t be… but she no more had time to think as the other assailant grabbed her free hand. The third one was still leading the march. Knocked out by terror, the woman kept being dragged to an unknown place.

"Tell me, Batara why are we going to Japan already?" Kevin asked. They were on an airplane flying toward the country of mangas and animes. Oh, and robots. Let`s not forget about robots.

"I told you, Kevin. We`re going for three reasons. First, I want to test a translator I invented and which, for now, is in a beta state, so I want to see if it works. Second, I have to assist a few conferences in Japan. And three, I want to see Japan again. I know it`s only been six years, but I wanted to see if it has changed."

"And why are we using a normal airplane trip?" Michael asked. "Couldn`t we use your private airplane or something?"

"I`m trying to go as unnoticed as possible," Batara said. "And my new Thunderstrike is a bit too easy to notice."

"Probably also the amount of yens you got, Batara… you must be extreme rich with that million yens!" Kevin pointed out.

"Not really, Kevin…" Batara said, smirking. "I might teach you a good lesson here, but a yen is much like a penny, which means I would have only ten thousand bucks on me for the trip." Batara looked again at the amount he had. "Let`s make it eleven thousand."

"That`s still a lot of cash for a teenager," Michael pointed out. "Anyway, I can`t wait to meet Japanese people. I always liked how they never ran out of ideas for videogames and graphic novels."

On this, Michael pulled out a notebook, flipped the pages until he found a page written only on the top half, and began writing. Kevin and Batara could not really see what he was writing, but at the speed he wrote and with the ease he had to change from line to line, one could guess he was inspired. He had numbered the pages of this notebook and was at page ten. Batara knew what his friend was writing, but Kevin had no idea, and anyway the brown-haired teenager didn`t care. Michael pulled out his Mp7 player and put the earphones on, then turned on the 5gig machine and listened to his music. Kevin and Batara could hear the music coming out of it, which meant he was listening to it at the highest volume. Batara knew Michael would not understand them, so he spoke to Kevin.

"Listen, Kevin, I`ve been thinking about it…"

"What`s the thing, Batara?" Kevin asked, turning to the small scientist.

"Well… I don`t want Michael to hear about it. Maybe we should get far from him first…" Batara looked at Michael, who was still writing while bobbing his head on the beat he was listening to. "Well, finally, I suppose I can tell you. Listen, I`m not sure that Michael`s really… good to be with us…"

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked.

"Listen, remember those past three adventures? What did he do against Despair?"

"He picked you up when you fainted," Kevin answered.

"And during Johnny`s attack on the E.A.S.E.?"

"He discovered what was going on thanks to an old book."

"And, um…" Batara thought of it. "He has not been of use at all when the God of Robots was roaming around the city."

"Batara, he told me he had helped you with the control board…" Kevin answered, showing a sense of logic he rarely used.

Michael flipped to the next page and kept writing. He was not hearing at all what his friends were saying. And it was better.

"Listen, Kev, I know you will hate me for what I`ll say but… Michael has nothing to do with us."

"What?" Kevin asked, not understanding.

"Look at him; always the head in the clouds, a "cloud shoveler" who is scared of many things, and with no fighting skills. His intelligence is not extremely high and, let`s not mince words, he`s not the most useful person around."

"You`re saying he should stop being with us?"

Batara scratched his head. "Actually, there is one reason why we`re bringing him in Japan as well. I heard of some kidnappings and I want him to prove he can defend himself. I have no idea how this will turn out, but we will help each other in this case and we will see if he`s okay for the Trio."

"I kinda hate that plan," Kevin admitted. "But you`re right about it. I never liked books that much, and he`s a writer, not a man of action…"

"We have those four days to see if he is able to prove he`s worth being with us. Luckily, I am bringing you two during the spring break."

"Yeah…" Kevin ended. Michael had stopped listening to his music. He had filled up half of the new page.

"Damn, I`m stuck again. I hate writer`s block."

Kevin and Batara just sighed. They could no more talk about this as Michael would hear everything. It`s not that they don`t trust him, they`re just afraid that he might be more a weight than anything else.

After all, Michael was a totally normal teenager. There was nothing special about him: he was not very adventurous, and he had the average IQ, maybe over average. Michael had normal dreams: all he wanted to be known for is writing books. He was not the kind of guy to act on impulse; actually, he was thinking too much for this. He also had many phobias. When he was younger, he has been scared out of his skin by a lion at a zoo, and since then he`s scared of most dangerous animals. He also is scared of heights; apparently this phobia began after he jumped in a pool from the highest springboard and nearly drowned. He didn`t tell all his phobias, but the list is somewhat long. This means that Michael is not the most courageous person, and he knows it.

But Kevin and Batara doubted on telling him, because Michael was still a very nice guy, and he would badly take the news… they did not want any mental breakdown from their friend. Seriously, they wanted Michael to prove his worth during this trip.

Michael snapped his fingers. He just had found THE sentence he had to add to his story. He pulled out his notebook again and wrote in it. However he wrote it on the final page. He`d find a place to write it in his story.

Kevin sighed. "Okay, Batara. What else is part of the trip?" Michael also listened to the answer.

"Well… I have conferences to see, like I aid earlier. Weren`t you listening?"

"Conferences about what?" Michael asked.

"Well… apparently a Japanese entrepreneur has invented an electricity generator that is overly powerful and I have to go watch this, at least so I can find any flaws that can be corrected. I will also need us three to test this." Batara pulled out some sort of headphones with a microphone and a small button with a rectangular screen beside it.

Kevin played with the button and "French" appeared on the digital screen. He put on the headphones and spoke. "That`s pretty cool I guess," he said.

But Michael didn`t understand him. "What`s going on?"

Batara smirked. "That`s the machine. It translates Kevin`s English message into the language that has been selected on the screen. That way, unknowingly, he spoke French. Or actually…" Batara removed the headphones from Kevin`s head. "…he spoke in the microphone and the integrated translator changed what he said into French, retransmitting it by loudspeakers. I had the help of some cooperators of the E.A.S.E. for the languages and the miniature computer that translates everything. Awesome, isn`t it?"

"Cool!" Kevin and Michael said. Kevin didn`t understand, but he still thought it was cool. As for Michal, he had understood most of it.

"I have three here. One for each of us. I added Japanese to the language selection. Oh, and when someone speaks to you in Japanese, again thanks to this, you will understand as what they say will be translated in the microcomputer and sent to your headphones. This means you`ll understand everything as it will be turned into English."

After some more hours of trip, the trio finally arrived in Tokyo. After leaving the airport with all their suitcases, Batara drove them to the hotel they`ll spend the trip in and they unpacked their stuff.

The following day, Batara didn`t know what to do. They arrived one day too early, so Batara had no idea what to do. Of course, he wanted to visit Tokyo again, but he had to travel with his friends. He did not want to lose them in a different city, a different country… a different world, literally. Thus he has to watch for them every single minute. It was putting a big anvil on his shoulders, but he could handle this new pressure.

Sadly, Batara didn`t know what he should do with his friends. It was so small yet so immense… the city was small, maybe the size of Montreal, maybe less… but it was the best example of megalopolis one could find on Earth. Over a billion and a hundred million people lived in Japan. It was more than fifteen percent of Earth`s population. There was at least one mangaka per street, and Japanese restaurants filled the view. Batara was clueless as of what to begin with. So he asked his friends.

"Hey guys, what do you feel like doing? The conferences only begin tomorrow."

"How about we go to Chinatown?" Kevin asked. Michael and Batara face-palmed. "What?" Kevin wondered out loud, not understanding what he said.

"Hey, Batara, I`m sure there are some pretty cool shops in here…" Michael said. "Mangas are so cool, I keep reading some of them… Were you watching Astro when you were young?"

Batara sighed. "Michael, I`m not that old. I was born in 2017… that series aired around the eighties. Nineteen eighties."

Michael realized his mistake. "Oh yes, right… Sorry, so sorry. But you have to admit that with everything they have done, it`s impossible to figure out what was when."

"Yeah, that`s not false…" Batara said. "We can go to the Market after all."

"The Market?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, it was already there in 2045. It`s a great place located on an empty spot of Tokyo. Thousands of Japanese merchants pay for a stand they hold there and they sell stuff of all kinds. It`s like flea markets or garage sales, but at a giant scale. And they`re not allowed to sell crap."

"Sounds cool," Kevin said. "Why not going?"

"Only a few rules… One, we always follow each other, and I take the lead. We`ll wear these bracelets to know where we are if we get lost. Just press the button and the other bracelets will get located wherever they are, like a GPS system."

Batara let them wear those bracelets, which had a screen over them. It also had a button.

"It has been created by another scientist, but I asked him to make more for me. That way I can test them for him and it makes him some publicity too."

"You mentioned that kind of fraternity help some time ago…" Michael remembered. "Yeah, we were testing the waters of Saint Lawrence and Saint Maurice rivers."

"Two," Batara continued, "we stop each time one of us wants to stop. This reduces the risks of losing each other. And three… don`t buy anything that cost over a hundred thousand yens."

They spent five hours there, walking in the paths made by this giant flea market. Kevin had bought two or three videogames, in English of course. When he asked the seller if those were in English, he had forgotten to put on the headphones. But the seller understood and replied yes, so there was no problem. After all, even though the guys could now understand and speak Japanese, they could not read it. Happily, in Japan, English was the second most used language.

As for Michal, he fell on the greatest collection of mangas he had ever seen. Some of them dated of before the twenty-first century, and Michael was amazed; there was maybe a thousand mangas around this stand. Most of them were in English but the sellers also had the Japanese version. He immediately saw a series of mangas that interested him. There must have been thirty, maybe forty books in the pile. Michael immediately wanted to buy them all.

"Are you crazy?" Batara asked through the headphones. "It will be too heavy. Please, just buy the ten first books or something."

"But I want them, there`s monsters, there`s action, friendship, hints of romance, and a lot of plot twists. Well, according to what the seller described."

"No. Only the ten first books then. Come on, Michael, we won`t be able to pay them all. Let me look at the price." Batara approaches to look at the price. "A thousand yens for each?"

"Excuse me," the seller said in Japanese, but I can let you bargain on the price. Let`s say you buy five mangas for four thousand yens, ten mangas for seven thousand yens. The whole pack for twenty-five thousand yens. Is this a good deal?"

Batara thought about that. Sure, it was not extremely expensive, and this seller knew how to bargain. Batara thought about seven thousand yens for ten mangas. It was an okay deal, but it was still a bit too much.

"How about I buy ten mangas but to the seven thousand yens… I add this?" Batara pointed to a few golden-colored items.

"Oh, mister, those objects are sold apart… and only one of them costs a thousand yens. However, I can offer you the ten books and one of those items styled as those in the manga for seven thousand and five hundred yens."

"DEAL!" Michael yelled, leaving Batara silent. Of course it was only seventy-five dollars in total, and compared to ten thousand it was a tiny amount, but according to Batara, it was a bit expensive. However, when the seller told them those mangas dated from the '00 decade, he understood their price. As for the bracelets bearing the Horus eye, they were certainly not made of gold, or else they would have been extremely expensive. Batara paid for the stuff and Michael got the ten first mangas of the series, as well as the bracelets. He tried them on. "They`re perfect. They look so real…"

Batara was also paying for some stuff for himself. As weird as it is, he has only paid for two hundred thousand yens as of now. He wanted to keep enough money for the rest. They still had six days after all.

Back at the hotel, Batara filled up a report about those translator headphones. He said how well those worked, how everything sounded English, and also how it never bugged. He also filled a report for those GPS bracelets, saying they were really useful.

Michael, on his side, had already read the two first books of the mangas he bought (with Batara`s yens) and he really liked that story. It dated from 2000, so it was the first time this idea was taken. As for Kevin, he was just playing on his portable console. Batara wrote the final line on the report about the GPS wrists, and he turned to his friends.

"Okay guys, tomorrow we go to the first conference. Sadly, you can`t wander around the city because you could get lost, so I have to bring you two with me."

"It`s the conference on the energy generator?" Michael asked, lifting the eyes off his book.

"Yes, that one," the scientist replied. Kevin sighed.

"It will be so boring! Why do we have to watch it with you?" Then he remembered what the scientist said… "Oh yeah, right."

"Anyway, maybe it can come in handy… sometime," Batara said. "We may need to use this electricity generator one day."

The next day, indeed, Batara and his friends left for the conference, which was held at the Denryoku Kaisha Center. Michael looked at the picture of the man presenting the electricity generator. He looked like an old-time nerd. Anyway, the cardboard cutout mentioned he was there the whole week to present his electricity generator. It was, as the cutout said, one of the strongest electricity generators and had many features thanks to which the electricity could be used on anything that required electricity. Batara found his seat in the VIP section, and his friends also had seats in the same section.

Many minutes later, the conference began. The whole conference had been made in English especially today. Batara listened closely to it, Michael listened once in a while and Kevin… slept during that time. After the man presented his electricity generator and presented the many features (most of them that could be stuck to some wires so they could power really anything).

Then the question time arrived and Batara asked a few questions, like many other people in the public. The man revealed after one of those questions that when they are not connected to any feature, the wires could be extremely dangerous as the electricity could simply electrocute someone. It was the major flaw on this electricity generator.

After the conference ended, Batara and his friends left the Denryoku Kaisha Center.

"Guys, I don`t have another conference until tomorrow. What do you feel like doing for the rest of the afternoon?"

"No idea," both said at the same time, though not in unison.

"Then, I maybe have an idea… you know, it`s not my first time in Japan. I came here five years ago. And I can show you exactly where I was…" Batara pulled out a map of Tokyo and pointed to a certain spot on it. Michael read the caption associated to it.

"Rhonda Tower – Since 150 years to your service in building top quality vehicles and robots!" Michael was impressed. "It`s the famous Japanese company! The Rhonda vehicles and their mascots, the famous Rhondas!"

"Exactly," Batara said. "It`s a lot of souvenirs. I was twenty-seven years old when the owner of the company, a certain Donarudo Toranpu back then, asked me to add Artificial Intelligence to the Rhondas."

Batara mentioned, the first time he met Kevin and Michael, that he accidentally created the AI card and that it`s what has let him enter straight at the E.A.S.E. This was a revolutionary creation, and since then Batara has to often travel around the world to install the card into robots, at the demand of their owners. However this backfired sometimes; the robots` owners, happy about their robots being now spectacular machines, often began overusing, even overexploiting those robots. But since they now knew what it meant to be overexploited, they would rebel. And they could now, that thanks to the Artificial Intelligence, decide which of the three rules of Isaac Asimov they wanted to follow. Batara knew all the downsides of the AI, and thus he was conscious about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. He knew robots could now rebel, he knew they could attack humans, he knew they were going to be overexploited, and thus that it would bring a ton of other problems. He never wished this to happen.

Batara wanted of course to keep this card secret, but it was impossible. The information leaked from the E.A.S.E., nobody ever knew how. And soon the demands for AI rose exponentially, mostly from companies who wanted this into their robotic mascots. Batara traveled around the world, adding AI into many robots. However, when the first signs of rebellion appeared, all the blame was put on Batara, who then had to stop anything bad from happening. That`s when he realized he didn`t create something that would help humanity. He regretted it for very long. But the Rhondas have never been a danger.

"Yeah, five years ago I installed AI into the Rhondas, and I always stayed close to the company. You know, that`s the company I bought my mini-car from. They happily offered it to me for half-price after I put AI into the Rhondas. Ah, souvenirs… I suggest we go to the Rhonda Tower and we visit it. There`s always a guide who is there and lets us see everything. It is very cool."

The teenagers agreed to follow Batara there, and they arrived very soon at the Rhonda Tower.

They were immediately welcome by a guide, who recognized Batara. Batara explained he wanted his friends to see what was in the Rhonda Tower, and the guide happily brought them everyone in the tower. Michael had already been impressed by the building; like one huge building in the Three-Rivers downtown, its facades were entirely made of glass, though we couldn`t see through it as it brought only our reflection when we looked at it. The only distinguishable feature was that big R on the front, which was opening the view. It was the symbol of the company. Michael noticed, once inside, that the outer walls were really glasses, some sort of one-way mirrors, as we could see everything happening outside.

Michael kept looking around, vaguely listening to the guide`s explanation on the history of the Rhonda company (the only thing he heard is that the Rhondas survived the `10 crisis and grew a lot stronger from falling). He was actually looking for ideas he could use in his story. Those ideas were rare, and the best thing he noticed were those hermetically-closing doors that opened all of a sudden when one was near and closed as fast when this person was gone. It was a weird system of doors that, when opening, just rose from the ground, went into the ceiling, and stayed there until the person had left. Then the door closed entirely, not leaving anything come in or out until someone passed by and the door opened automatically again.

Sure, that was cool, but was it really some good story material? Michael doubted it. Why bring any attention to a small detail like this? Whatever. He kept searching for ideas, but nothing came. So he listened to the guide.

"We are trying to give as much comfort as possible for our employees. The best proof of it is that we have a bathroom on every floor. Not only this, but we have a revolutionary system of water."

Michael approached one of those bathrooms. It also had a door like all the others. This had no interest whatsoever.

The visit was ending soon; they were almost at the top floor. The guide ended his speech by talking about the highest floor.

"To avoid any danger when there`s a fire, it is possible to open this part of the ceiling."

He pointed to an opening on the ceiling. Right now it was closed, but it could open easily.

"On the roof, we can land a helicopter. That`s where the boss keeps his personal helicopter. That comes in useful when he has some place to go and he`s on the top floor. He passes by the safety exit, and he reaches his helicopter in no time."

After the tour was over, Kevin, Michael and Batara left toward their hotel room. It was getting late, and Batara had another conference the following day, so they had to get some rest.

* * *

Author`s notes: The story looks easy as of now. Still, I inserted here references to the Honda company, but you will soon remember why (if you have ever seen some of their best creations, you`ll see.

Has anyone found out which manga Michael bought?

Next chapter will hopefully come as soon as possible, but it may get delayed because of school work and yadda yadda. College is a heavyweight, but it`s a dumbbell I can lift anyway.


	8. Arc 4: Hostages in Japan, part 2

Hello everyone! I`m happy to say I`m not in vacation and thus that I have plenty of time to write! This also means I will work on this story!

I admit chapter 7, the first part of arc 4, was very difficult to write but chapter 8, the one you will be reading in a few seconds, has been a lot easier. I dunno, it`s one of my biggest flaws, I have a lot of problems writing when what is going on is not interesting. However, expect a few surprises in this chapter.

Have a nce read, and don`t forget to review!

* * *

Arc 4: Hostages in Japan, part 2

They broke in that night.

The old man was still sleeping peacefully. Around his alarm clock, pictures of past successes were collecting dust. On the wall atop the bed, certificates and distinctions of all kinds were kept preciously. The peace was broken when the door slammed to the wall, the loud noise awaking the man who was in his late fifties.

"Nani desu ka?" The man rose a bit from his covers, muttering a Japanese "What the?" But instantly two solid arms grabbed him and dragged him out of bed. They were strong men… if they were men, of course, because their grab was too strong to be a man`s.

"Old man, your time has come… or should I say… Father, your time has come," the strongest of the gang said. The elder knew the assailant spoke English so he also spoke English.

"I knew one day you would visit me. It was written in the skies and in my memory."

"It is not time for silly metaphors, father. You chose retirement too early. We still needed you."

"What do you mean… oh no, he was right about rebellion…" But that`s all he could say, not giving further explanation to anyone, as the three brutes were now dragging him to their HQ. He knew just too well who they were; he could guess it easily. Those were robot hands dragging him out of his apartment and into his past workplace.

The following day opened on what should have been a perfect time. Batara apparently had another conference this morning. Kevin was desperately trying to solve an enigma in the game he bought the other day at the giant Japanese "garage sale", and he was totally stuck. As for Michael… he was now reading the tenth book he bought. The fact that this story began with all kinds of game battles and slowly transformed into a card game manga was… interesting. It wasn`t bad at all He even began understanding how the card game worked. But well, he supposed that it had now faded and lost popularity; after all haven`t those mangas been drawn around the year 2000? Whatever, the story was good. And when Michael decided to try the fake bracelets, he felt as if he was that second identity, the one some characters wearing those items could get. What was the name already? Anyway, he was not going to use it, that would just become a direct reference and it would be too obvious, and thus too "simple" to guess. He needed a name for this new identity, even if it was just a joke. He would be able to use it some day into a story…

As he was thinking about it, Batara was parking his rental car in the parking lot close to this new center. Right beside it, there was a helicopter rental service… it was extremely expensive, but who knows, it could become useful some day… the front sign said "Tonboherikoputa". Michael had no idea what it meant.

This conference was totally useless for Kevin, who spent a part of it on the "snooze" button, while Michael found nothing interesting about it, or so he thought. Batara was really interested however. This new type of bomb, which could only explode at the end of a countdown and only when water entered it, was very interesting. When the conference ended, Michael had to wake up Kevin, who had begun snoring. Michael wasn`t physically strong enough to drag him all the way back to the rented car, so he just slightly shook his friend, who was still in some sort of slumber. Kevin awoke and angrily walked out of the center, and into the car. Michael embarked and the Trio left. It was approaching noon, and the teenagers` stomachs were grumbling.

"I guess a bite won`t harm anyone huh?" Batara said.

"Hurry, I`m hungry enough to eat this car," Kevin said jokingly.

Batara smirked while keeping his eyes on the highway. "Be careful, Kevin, even Iron Man didn`t have an iron stomach." Michael chuckled when he heard this. Batara entered the Tokyo Food Court parking and found a nice spot. They were extremely lucky because, like all the parking lots of Tokyo, it was overcrowded by cars of all kinds, some Hyena-Day, some Rhonda, and many more car brands.

Batara led them to Sushi Land, and entered after them. There, many types of sushi were held in lines, as an all-you-can-eat buffet like those in the United States. Kevin held a face of disgust while Michael and Batara seemingly liked what they were seeing. Batara asked, in Japanese thanks to his headphones, for a table, and they were fast served and brought to a table. Batara invited Kevin and Michael to go pick their sushi before he does, and the two teenagers went first (Kevin grumbling and Michael awaiting to eat sushi for the first time).

While picking their sushi, Michael noticed Kevin wasn`t picking much sushi. "Hey, what is it Kev?"

"I hate fish; I really hate to eat fish. I`m a bit allergic to shrimps… or was it pollen? I don`t remember…"

"Try it, Kevin, I`m sure it is delicious." Michael was taking one of each sushi, and his plate was filling up. Kevin was trying to fill his plate with bread and other things, until he saw a portion of the buffet that had other countries food. A pizza, steaks, and anything that wasn`t from Japan were sitting in this separate category.

Batara saw Michael come with a full plate of sushi. The blonde teen sure wanted to integrate into the Japanese culture. As for Kevin… Batara nearly looked at him with despair. That guy will never change.

Kevin saw his friend`s face. "What?" Kevin asked. If Batara and Michael were anime characters, they would have a sweat drop comical effect. "I`m allergic to shrimp, I remember now." Kevin sat beside Michael with his plate filled with a piece of pizza, three chicken wings, and a few hot dog sausages wrapped in bacon (straight out of Quebec). Kevin began eating, apparently not caring about whatever his friends would say.

"If I brought you guys here," Batara lectured Kevin, "it is to make you two more open-minded. You are on a new part of the world now, a new universe to both of you. Will I have to bring you here for the World Expo in 2070?"

"I`ll just have to go to Expo 2067 on Saint-Helen Island near Montreal," Kevin replied. Michael growled. "That`s not bright, dude. Seriously…" he ate a sushi in one bite. "That sushi is delicious, man!"

Batara left to fill his own plate, so Kevin chatted with Michael.

"What`s his problem exactly?" Kevin asked. Michael sighed.

"Do you have any idea how much he spent since we arrived here? You realize he had to buy our plane tickets since his were already given by the E.A.S.E.? It`s over two thousand bucks he`s paying for us, you should AT LEAST thank him. Not cool, man."

Kevin thought about it. "Yeah, you`re right… but I`m still not gonna buy sushi, I don`t want to choke on that sushi."

Michael sighed. Kevin was unchangeable. However, Kevin was also thinking on his own side, as they still couldn`t find something. He and Batara truly wanted Michael to show what he could do. He needed to prove he was part of the Trio Robots. Right now, all he could do was creating plans that will more than likely never work, and make stories. He had no ability whatsoever, he was not the biggest brain around (but after all, who could compare themselves to a scientist like Batara?), and he was a zero on fighting abilities. As for mental, he was scared of many things (spiders, big animals, heights, and the list can go on), and to tell the truth, he was more in his imaginary world. What would a "cloud shoveler" like him do? Anyway, what did that expression mean?

Michael gulped his tenth sushi and sipped on his glass of water. His plate had still a lot of food in. Kevin thought about everything that has been said, and decided nothing. First off, he wanted to eat before it gets cold, and he wanted Batara to be around, since he is the big brain of the trio. Kevin bit in his pepperoni pizza just as Batara arrived from his adventure through the tables of the buffet. He had mostly sushi, but he also had things from the table Kevin picked on.

"I liked sushi ever since I came here to install AI into the Rhonda robots; it was a total revelation, just like pizza to Quebecois eighty-three years ago." Kevin looked at him with an air of irony. "…but you can`t change a French Canadian in the soul." Kevin sighed. Batara wasn`t serious on that thing.

"I don`t want to ask for something too private but… about how much cash do you have left?"

Batara opened his wallet, and looked in it. The whole cash was in bills of yens. "I will calculate it later, but I think I have spent only one third of those ten thousand bucks."

"Cool. That`s enough for the rest of the week, huh?"

"Yes, hopefully." Batara put his wallet back in his pocket and began eating. They talked about nothing and anything at once, the normal chat friends have.

Outside the place, in a dark alley (stereotypes again, huh?), the three kidnappers were awaiting for their leader`s orders.

"We do not need his money, master. We need him," the bulkier one said.

"But his friends are always around him," the slightly shorter one continued.

"Yes, our contact told me about it," the master said in the three characters` ears. "But they are easy to put game over. If you don`t kill them, capture them. The result will be the same."

"Sure, master," the three said.

"It will all go according to plan," the bulkier one finished. "The only thing we have to do is a small thing that will lead us to him. Batara Byzlack..."

"...our main target," the master ended.

When the teenagers were done with their plates, Batara went to pay. He paid, but he couldn`t believe how expensive it was. "Ten thousand yens?" On the other hand, Batara expected something around a hundred dollars, with two very hungry teenagers added to the bill. Luckily it was only one percent of everything he had at the beginning. He put his wallet in his pocket and left with the teenagers.

As soon as they were on the sidewalk, someone "bumped" into Batara. The short scientist fell on the sidewalk. As for the one who bumped into him, he ran away. Batara moved to pick up his wallet... it was gone. Batara rose to his feet, and yelled to his friends: "Guys, that guy stole my wallet!" And he began chasing the pickpocket, with Kevin and Michael following their friend.

This short hunt to the robber stopped in a dark alley. Batara stopped dead in his track when he saw that three bulky characters were waiting for them. "Uh oh..." Batara muttered. Instantly, one of those brutes walked toward them, causing Batara to step back. "_Those are too great opponents for me..._" he thought.

Kevin walked towards the three characters wearing coats and hats hiding their faces. They really were scary. But the enemies were three, the heroes were three. Fair deal. But on the heroes` side, one was a small scientist, one was a scared teenager and the other teenager... well, he looked more like he wanted to digest in peace.

That battle was very short – probably the shortest of all. After three, maybe two minutes of "intense" fight (as intense as can be a fight between two groups with one of them way stronger than the other), the result was undoubted: the bad guys had won. Kevin, knocked out, felt himself being dragged who knows where. Both his hands were held by a brute. As for Batara, he had been gracelessly placed over the third brute`s shoulder. Batara`s wallet was lying there, amongst the junk of the alley. That`s when a scared out of his skin Michael revealed himself from hiding in a trash can.

The teenager was scared as soon as he saw the three brutes. Luckily, Kevin and Batara fighting them were a good distraction, for the three evil characters, so Michael had right enough time to hide in the trash can. Terrorized and voiceless, he stood silent for the rest of the battle. He considered himself extremely lucky that he escaped the opponents... But now, he was alone in the most populated city of Earth, the first megalopolis, with only a few items to help him, no cash, nothing!

Michael took a big breath as soon as he came out of the trash can (it was particularly disgusting as he now smelled the contents of the trash can, and boy did it stink!), then he realized the trouble he was in. He knew those three brutes would soon try to find him. He who had a terrible fear of bacteria had sunk into a trash can to save his life. That was definitely his worst day ever. By searching through the junk on the floor (he thought the Japanese people were clean, he was definitely wrong, but at least the found ways to recuperate over 75% of all the junk produced by the population), he found Batara`s wallet. The bills had a yucky scent caused by who knows what. Michael put the wallet in his pockets and ran out of the alley.

Those three brutes were certainly somewhere around! After intense searching, he finally found them among the crowd (for this he could tanks the Where`s Waldo books), and decided to follow them. It`s weird, the Japanese pedestrians not even noticed the brutes. He followed them to a rather dusty building, an ancient apartment block most likely. Michael kept following the brutes, which entered one apartment into the block, and he noted the number to it. He let the door slightly open for him to see them use... a secret pas? They revealed a button in a fridge, pressed it, and instantly a piece of furniture moved out of the way, revealing a small pass that opened. Michael could not see more, but it was for sure: Wherever their HQ was, that secret pass was leading them to it.

Michael arrived in Batara`s hotel room. He was really lucky that Batara held the key card in his wallet.

"Okay," Michael thought. "It`s time to show what you can do. You are alone in a megalopolis, your friends are captive to three very dangerous enemies, and all you have now is..."

Michael looked at everything he had with him. Six hundred thousand yens were probably enough to go back to Quebec, but that was not an option, he had to save them. He had this translator headphone, but it was probably not very useful. He had those GPS bracelets given by Batara`s colleague from the E.A.S.E., but they were probably not of use either. Finally, he had those souvenirs bought by Batara. They were preciously kept in the room`s safe. Batara had transformed a bit how the safe worked to ensure none of their possession would get stolen. He at the same time told his friends about the new code.

Michael opened the safe by using the code. Oh great, nothing would be of use here. His two Horus eye bracelets, those books about a hero that never existed, Kevin`s videogame and the console he had brought to play with it and his old games, and Batara`s gadgets of all kinds, tools for robotics and the like. There was also a portable computer in there; Batara was using it sometimes in the room.

Finally, Michael browsed in his memory of the past days to find clues of what may have been going on and how to face it. He played a bit with Kevin`s game, completed the puzzle he was stuck on, wrote the answer on a sheet of paper, but did not save the game so Kevin would do it himself. Michael wrote what he remembered of the past conferences, and found out that they both had interesting details that could be integrated into a full plan. He wrote on the same sheet everything the two inventions (the translator headphones and the GPS bracelets) could do. He also added a few interesting details on Tokyo and many things he has seen since they arrived in the megalopolis. Finally, he re-read his ten books from beginning to end, in fast forward manner, and found many plan ideas, which he could use.

If he was going to save his friends, he was going to do what he rarely did when action happened: Act instead of watching. And to act well, he knows exactly what he was going to do.

After an hour in the mini bathroom of the hotel room, he decided he was finally ready. His plan could begin. He called for a Japanese cab, and with Batara`s wallet in his pockets, Michael embarked in the taxi and left for his first stop.

(Note: I will not explain everything he did starting here, but all will be explained in flashbacks put in italics. However, you will see that when it comes to planning things, Michael was really good.

While Michael was putting his plan to action, Kevin and Batara awoke. Where were they? It looked... like a cage. When they began moving, the light turned on by itself, and the three strange kidnappers appeared in the room. However, there was someone else with them... someone the height of a child, just like Batara. The three taller figures were still wearing clothes that hid completely their appearance. The smaller one was not hiding at all. Batara even recognized him (if we can say him).

"ROMIS!" Batara yelled, recognizing the small robot. Now that the cover had been blown up, it was no more time to hide things.

The three taller characters removed their clothing to reveal three robots. The tallest one was lacking any "armor" to say so and its mechanics were seen by everyone. It was of a totally gray color and it was very scary by looks as it had no face, only vision and hearing captors. Batara had compared it to the same robot seen in 2010. R1 (as was this robot`s name) had had its head decrease in size, which made it look more like a human. This also meant its battery, which was in the head at this time, was now somewhere else in this robot`s body. Batara remembers putting Artificial Intelligence in this robot.

The second robot, named R2, was also different from what it looked like in 2010. It had some very visible mechanics, but it was wearing an armor of white and red colors. Its head had been made smaller and the huge battery in the back, which had been there since this robot`s creation, was now somewhere within its body.

The third, whose white body armor showed R3 on the chest, looked a lot more like a human. He was as tall as the others, but it was definitely more human-like. Its head was smaller, and its emotions and faces were shown on a digital screen, red eyes and mouth. It looked like a body built man, and he was also impressive by his technology. Like the others, his battery was in his body instead of being in some sort of backpack. Thanks to technology for reducing the size of practically every machine and battery.

In front of them stood ROMIS, tall like a child, maybe a ft. taller than Batara and much like R3, its expressions and its feelings were shown on a virtual face. Like all the others, his body armor looked like he was wearing a space suit, as he was also totally white.

The four evildoing robots faced their new guests.

"Our prey has been caught. Now we just need to ask for a ransom and we will have enough money to never work here ever," R1 said, most likely not the smartest one of the group.

"Shut up!" ROMIS yelled at R1. "I have a better plan. We will burn down the whole company by killing their biggest faces. Understood, Donarudo?"

"Donarudo is here?" Batara asked. He turned around and he saw the old man, in a corner of the cage, huddled and scared. They exchanged a short look and the short scientist turned back to his kidnappers.

ROMIS shook his head. "You are all pitiful human beings, not knowing that the Artificial Intelligence`s limits are easily beaten. The present owner of the Rhonda Company has overexploited us and we shall make him pay for this!"

Batara understood immediately what was going on. The Rhondas have been overexploited by the new owner of the Rhonda Corporation and thus they want revenge. It always happens, it`s just the usual scenario.

Kevin was a bit scared now, since he was captive. "You think Michael will help us?"

Batara whispered to him: "Shut up."

Kevin tried to talk again. But what if Michael is..."

"Shut up, Kevin!" Batara said. This brought ROMIS` attention, and the robot looked again at Batara and at Kevin. That was true, one of them was missing. It was the Trio Robots, not the Duo Robots! Furious, "he" turned to his three henchmen.

"Idiots! You forgot one! You forgot one of the three members of the Trio!"

R3 face-palmed. "My processors knew we had forgotten someone, but target Michael Marchand was nowhere to be seen at the time."

"You three are robotic imbeciles!" ROMIS yelled. "If we don`t catch the remaining member of the Trio, they will all escape!"

R2 tried to convince ROMIS. "The remaining member is the weakest, and he hid in a trash can as soon as we began fighting against those two humans."

"WHAT?" Kevin and Batara yelled.

"_That`s official, we can`t trust Michael,_" Batara thought, with a sour feeling for his teenage friend.

"It must be a very bad feeling, huh, Batara?" ROMIS asked, turning to the small scientist. "Your friend forgot you and left you, and since he is a phobic he is never going to come and save you!"

"Michael won`t." The door opened, revealing a teenager resembling almost exactly like Michael. However, his hair was styled like that of a manga character`s, with spikes and most likely with gel, and he had a look of self-confidence on the face. He was smirking, which was actually rare for Michael. His arms were crossed, but Batara and Kevin could see the two bracelets they had bought at the open garage sale. He was also wearing a backpack containing many items, as it looked a bit heavy. "Michael won`t..." Michael repeated. "...but, Maikeru will!" he said, smirking again.

Kevin nearly chuckled, but Batara stopped him in time. "Hush," the scientist told his friend. Kevin nodded.

That`s when Michael – er, Maikeru said something that was a direct nod to the mangas Batara bought him. "Hey the robots, how about we play a game?"

_Flashback_

"_How will I do that, how will I do that?" Michael asked out loud in the hotel room. He decided to read the mangas to change a bit his ideas and, if possible, find some. After one tome, he finally found an excellent idea. Maybe it could work... maybe it couldn`t. But well, he just had to try everything._

_He ran to the bathroom, pulled out a bottle of gel from the pharmacy (only God knows why it was there) and began changing his hairstyle for a cooler one. When he was happy enough about it, he looked back at the transformation the main character passed through each time he switched to his second personality. Once Michael was happy with the style, he decided to keep it that way._

"_It won`t ever be for real, but it`s a good make-believe... and feeling like a hero will give me courage," the teenager thought to himself._

_End flashback_

The robots looked at Michael – er, Maikeru. That teenager was not serious. Ask for a game? Their plan was no game. ROMIS approached Maikeru.

"And which kind of game would it be?" the short robot asked.

"A game to test speed, stealth and ingenuity. Here are the rules: One, you cannot harm the captives. Two: You can use any tactic to prevent me from approaching the captives, but you cannot have any guarding robot in the room of the cage nor harm the captives. And three: You cannot use the surveillance system as it would be cheating, but you can however help each other with walkie-talkies or a similar device." Maikeru told them all that and knew their robotic brains would learn these rules. However, he knew they would probably not follow them. He was ready in consequences. His backpack was full of tricks he paid to different people around Tokyo, and he was going to use them if needed.

"So we just have to keep them alive with no guard too close, and we win?"

"Not only that. Actually, the point of this game is more complicated. If you catch me without the use of surveillance cameras and you successfully throw me in the cage, you win. If I can make all the captives escape the building, and I can beat you, then I win."

"It is your only demand?" ROMIS asked.

"It`s either that, either I call the E.A.S.E. Tactical Squad and they burst in and tear you robots to shreds before locking you up in the Maximum Security Monster Jail."

ROMIS thought about it. "Fine. When does it begin?"

"Let`s say in ten minutes. You stay here for ten minutes and then you can hunt me down."

"Deal."

Maikeru smirked. In ten minutes he would be able to set his plan into motion. The new Michael ran to the highest floor – that`s where his backup plan was going to happen. He checked the exit leading to the roof; it was working just fine. If he had problems, he`d just have to run here and escape. He walked to the bathroom on the highest floor. Like all the doors in this building, they were retracting into the ceiling when someone passed by and closed hermetically when this person left. Michael entered the bathroom, placed a bomb near to the floor, on a wall, and activated it. When water would go and touch it, by pressing the button, a countdown would begin. He also took an advantage that the doors could only open when someone was close. He let all taps open in this bathroom and he blocked their drains. If everything went well, once he`d be out of the bathroom, the door closed would not let the water pass. The bathroom would fill up with water, and rig the bomb, which would explode ten minutes later. He greatly paid the inventor of this bomb so he could use it in his plan. He also rented a helicopter which would come and wait on the roof of the building if Michael had to escape. His plan could backfire after all.

The safety plan was ready now. He had a plan, a safety plan and a safety plan to the safety plan.

The ten minutes were over, the robots would now be chasing him in the building to try and catch him. It was too risky to pass by the ventilation, Maikeru had no idea what was going to happen there and he had never seen it. So Maikeru went back down the stairs (he decided not to use the escalator, as the robots would more than likely wait there) to free his friends.

Maikeru searched in his backpack and he found just what he needed. That little laser looked powerless, but actually it had a great use. It was the laser Michael and Kathy used to stop the guardian robots when they were climbing the God of Robots. Maikeru found it in Batara`s tool case and put it in the backpack before leaving the hotel room. Since his enemies were robots, it would really be useful.

Michael finally reached the first floor, on which his friends were held captive, and he hid behind a wall. The robots were gone, probably seeking him. The main robots were gone indeed... but another one was there now. He looked mile R3, however he was more colored to say so. Its chest bore the letter R and the number 4. It looks like this robot was acting as a guardian of the room, since the Rhondas could not have a guardian in the room. How would Maikeru pass through this mass of metal and save his friends? He got an idea.

"Hey, you!" he screamed to R4. The robot turned to where the scream came from. Maikeru was already running toward R4, and attacked him. A rapid hit to the head and the laser`s ray was already going through the heavy metal shell and making the robot`s circuits useless. R4 fell to its knees and soon its face touched the ground. Maikeru was surprised that this part of the plan worked so well. He picked up the laser from R4`s head and went to his friends. Unknowingly to him, the TrapCorp surveillance cameras were watching him, and the Rhondas were spying on what Maikeru was doing. However, that camera is the only camera they had kept functioning. That way they were not "totally" cheating. Michael found the lock`s code thanks to something he borrowed in Batara`s tool case (he really had everything, huh?) and he opened the door of the cage. Batara came to shake Maikeru`s hand.

"Thank you."

"That`s nothing. Now just wait out of this room, I will bring you to the exit."

Kevin quit the cage but looked at Maikeru. "Good work Michael."

Maikeru corrected him. "Not Michael; right now I am Maikeru." Once all the captives were out of the cage, Maikeru took the lead and told them: "Follow me."

Maikeru was not going to lead them to the exit, but rather to the secret passageway he found and used to get to the Rhonda Tower.

To be continued...

* * *

Author`s notes: I repeat it, this chapter was easier to write than expected. However, chapter 9 will be quite short as compared to this one. It will revolve around Michael - er, Maikeru -`s plan in the Rhonda Tower. There will be a lot of references to the manga, which is, by the way, an extremely popular category on this website. Will you guess it? I think it is clear and easy now, but let the chase begin!

Read you soon!


	9. Arc 4: Hostages in Japan, part 3

Arc 4: Hostages in Japan, Part 3

Maikeru was on his way to the secret passageway. He was leading the group. The small group following him included Kevin, Batara, Donaderu and his daughter as well as the new owner of the Rhonda Company. There were two or three more unnamed people, but they all had a link with the company.

However the Rhondas, spying on them thanks to their TrapCorp cameras (the best surveillance company in the world), were already breaking the rule of not using the cameras. They knew Maikeru was leading them to the secret passageway. ROMIS did not believe it. How had this child... this LOSER... beaten R4? That robot was one of the strongest of the group! However, they had to hurry or else Maikeru would indeed get all the hostages out of the place!

"What are you all waiting for?" ROMIS yelled to R1, R2 and R3. "Go, go, go and get them!"

"Sorry boss, but we do not know if we will be able to do it, after all we are on the fifth floor already..."

"I don`t care!" The small robot yelled. "Go get them!" ROMIS may be small, but it sure is scary when it gets angry. The three R-robots hurried down the staircase, at the speed their robotic features gave them; very slowly actually. ROMIS face-palmed, seeing them going down the stairs. He yelled in a microphone that would redirect his speech to earphones located in their heads. "Use the escalator, imbeciles!"

"ROMIS, we cannot do that!" R2 exclaimed. "We are too heavy for the escalator." And the Rs kept going down the staircase, this time trying to go faster. ROMIS mimicked a sigh.

On his side, Maikeru knew exactly where he was leading the hostages. He led them to a "staff-only" door, which opened straight up when the group walked to it. He let the eight people enter and entered after them. Rapidly, Maikeru looked around. He knew the secret exit was somewhere around here, after all he used it to escape. He remembered he had seen a clue about it; a clue the robots were using. He found the clue quite easily; the secret exit was in a janitor`s closet. On the closet`s door were written in Japanese "janitor`s closet" although a katakana or a hiragana or whichever of those symbols Michael had never heard about was missing. It was also written in English although the final "T" was missing, spelling "close" instead of "closet". Michael used a paper clip unbent to fiddle with the lock and opened the door. There was apparently nothing in there, and even Kevin said it.

"You`re crazy, Michael? You want us to escape in a closet?" Kevin laughed. Michael looked around the closet and found a button, which was placed on a vacuum-like object. He pressed it and something happened, making Kevin stop laughing all of a sudden, and everyone else looking with surprise to what was happening. The wall behind the vacuum opened up like all the doors in the place (actually this janitor`s closet was the only door of the whole building which was NOT opening like this), the vacuum disappeared in the newly-created opening, and the floor opened up, revealing a set of stairs leading underground and a secret passageway.

However, Maikeru knew the three R robots were approaching. Their loud footsteps and their numerous clangs and robotic noises were a clue of their arrival. They were already on the ground floor? This was surprising, when we consider those robots` base speed was quite slow. Maikeru hurried them inside this dark passageway just as the robots were passing the "staff only" automatic door.

"Hurry, hurry!" Maikeru told the soon-to-be-free hostages. He threw them a flashlight, which he had found in Batara`s toolbox at the hotel room. "When you`ll reach the end, search for a button and press it. Then come out of the secret passageway and get out. Then call William Wong from the E.A.S.E. Tactical Squad and..." He didn`t have time to finish this sentence, as the three imposing robots had entered the place, determined into taking back the ones they had kidnapped. In a swift move, Maikeru closed the passageway, pressed again on the button for everything to come back where it was, and locked the "janitor`s close" (spelling mistake on purpose). He could not hide either, as there was not a lot of place to hide in inside this room and besides, the kidnapper robots would certainly look everywhere to find any remaining persona who would not have left by the secret passageway. Maikeru decided to stay in place and do what he does best: escape. When the robots arrived in the room, Maikeru smirked.

"Searching someone?" he said mischievously. Immediately, R1 ran to Maikeru, but the new Michael evaded the attack and R1, unable to stop on its track, smacked its head to the wall. Maikeru also avoided R2, and the robot crashed on R1. They weren`t knocked out, they barely had scratches from these bad moves. R3 decided not to try that, as it could be quite dangerous. R3 stood still, letting Maikeru walk around the imposing white robot, and tried to escape by the "staff only" door, which opened. That`s when R3 moved finally, tripped and fell, but caught Maikeru`s ankle at the same time. Maikeru could not move, and the robot`s strong grip really hurt him foot, but the teenager tried to crawl again out of the "staff only" door, which was kept open for as long as he was not out of its perimeter. Finally, Maikeru escaped, sadly leaving both his shoe and his sock behind. R3 was left with those two items in hand, totally useless for a robot, but they were going to greatly slow down Maikeru. After all, how would that teenager destroy them now? Because he said it; to win this game, he had to defeat them.

_Flashback_

"_[...] If you catch me without the use of surveillance cameras and you successfully throw me in the cage, you win. If I can make all the captives escape the building, and I can beat you, then I win."_

_End flashback_

In the secret passageway, Kevin was leading the group. He was holding the flashlight, which was so strong that they could see everything in the passageway. There were a lot of spider webs, and it was dusty, very dusty.

"I`m surprised that Michael wasn`t scared if he passed here," Batara said. "He has a total fear of spiders."

"Yeah... He sure is full of surprises huh?" Kevin said.

"He has proven he could help us; but I wonder if he`ll be able to get out of this alive... at soon as we are out of here, we will go back to the Rhonda Tower and help him."

"Nice plan, Batara," Kevin said. On this, the old man, Donaderu Toranpu, approached the short scientist.

"Batara?"

Batara did not recognize the voice at first, so he didn`t turn. However it did sound familiar. Where had he heard this voice already? He didn`t remember. It must have been a few years ago.

"Batara, it`s Donarudo. I wanted to tell you that I never thought this would happen."

Batara turned around and despite the darkness of the hallway, he knew who it was; he couldn`t see much of the visage however.

"You never thought, yet it happened. I told you about that. It`s dangerous to use Artificial Intelligence," Batara lectured.

"But it was not my fault! It`s the new owner of the Rhonda Company. He overexploited the Rhondas and they were trying to get revenge."

"Hey!" The man, who happened to be with them, said. "I have never been told about this. I knew about the AI, but I didn`t know about its side effects!"

Batara sighed. "If only you knew how often it happens, you`d be surprised. Twenty-two percent of all the robots who cause something terrible were equipped with Artificial Intelligence that went awry or which convinced them to rebel. Stats of the E.A.S.E. don`t lie."

"Anyway, I think it`s both our mistake," Donaderu said about himself and the new owner. "But I don't think that one teenager alone will be able to stop five robots."

"Well, he stopped one already," Batara said, referring to R4. "As for the others, Michael WILL find a way to stop them."

"Um, he talked about the E.A.S.E. Tactic-something Squad..." Kevin pointed out.

"Ah, yes!" Batara exclaimed. "I told Michael about that one day. When a rampaging robot has caused a lot of trouble, we can call the E.A.S.E. Tactical Squad, which is led by William Wong, the security operator of the building, and they will come and get the robots to lock them up inside the Maximum Security Monster Jail. Pretty useful."

That`s when Kevin reached the end wall. Maikeru said there was a button around there, so Kevin searched with the flashlight and finally found it. He pressed it and after some loud sounds, the ceiling opened, revealing where they had ended up; the small apartment in which the Rhondas had brought Kevin and Batara on the first time. Once they all came out of there, Kevin looked at Batara.

"Let`s go help our friend," Batara said.

Maikeru was now running up the staircase. The Rhondas had sabotaged the escalator to ensure Maikeru couldn`t pass by there. He had problems with that since he had a bare foot and the metallic stairs were really harmful to it. It was too difficult to jump on only one foot to climb up this staircase, so he endured the injury and kept going. The part one of his plan was a success, his friends were safe. Now he had to defeat the Rhondas. He has defeated R4 with the debug laser, he just had to use it again. Anyway, no matter what was going to happen, he has a safety plan to this plan, and another safety plan to that other plan. He looked on his watch. It`s been less than eight minutes since he rigged the bomb. His first safety plan was the riskiest one.

_Flashback_

_After Maikeru challenged the Rhondas to the game, he took the escalator to the highest floor. There he pulled out of his bag a water-rigging bomb like those he had seen at the second conference Batara watched with them. He entered the last floor`s washroom, turned on the taps – he remembered the guide said that their special sewage system had said something about that – and he blocked the brain with another item he got from Batara`s toolcase. Finally he set one of those water-rigging bombs on the wall nearby, and then placed the detonator a bit higher._

_If his plan was going to work well, the washroom would fill up and fill up with water. The door would not open to it, and when the water would reach the detonator`s level, it would actually rig the bomb, which was set at 5 minutes. Five minutes later, the bomb would explode, (hopefully) destroying a part of the wall and wetting the robots. If they are not waterproof, it would be a success. And if they were... Maikeru had planned a safety plan just for that._

_Maikeru calculated the bomb would be rigged in fifteen minutes approximately and would explode five minutes later. He had enough time to do all he had to._

_End flashback_

Maikeru finally reached the highest floor. He was panting; he rarely did that kind of thing. After all, he was not a real Maikeru, he was just Michael with a cooler style and a false expression of self-confidence. He hurried to the safety exit, which was located on the ceiling, and tried to pull it out. Sadly, he was too short, so he had to get a nearby chair, got atop it, and pulled the exit`s opening button. The exit opened, revealing a foldable ladder, which Maikeru began unfolding. However, just as he was doing that, the robots arrived on the same floor.

Dang, Maikeru had acted too fast. The bomb still had not exploded, or it was going to explode in some minutes. That was a failure. Unless... that had to be tried.

Maikeru tried to use the debug laser, but R3 caught it before, threw it on the floor and smashed its foot on it, destroying it. Okay, this part of the plan was a failure of some kind. But there was another plan Maikeru smirked. "Good work for getting here, Rhondas. But if you think you can get me..." Maikeru ran to the washroom. ROMIS also arrived on the highest floor, apparently coming to help its henchmen brothers.

"Imbecile," ROMIS yelled. "This is a door leading to what you humans call a washroom. There`s no way for you to escape by this!" And ROMIS pointed toward Maikeru, which was an order for R1 to R3 to go and attack.

Maikeru laughed. "You are one silly robot."

Maikeru approached the washroom`s door enough for it to open, unleashing a wave that splashed both him and the four robots. Maikeru had had enough time to get out of the water`s way however. Plus the bomb still hadn`t exploded. A quick peek to it showed there were only thirty seconds left to it.

The four robots were now wet. R1 fell to the ground and short-circuited. This one was NOT waterproof.

ROMIS mimicked a laugh. "You thought it was possible to stop us with water? Imbecile child. R2, R3 and I are waterproof!"

Maikeru smirked. H had smirked a bit too much in such a short time. Oh well. "I knew it..." Maikeru ran inside the washroom and took the bomb off the wall. He came out of the washroom in time, avoided R3`s attack, and threw it to R2 at the same time the numbers reached zero. BOOM! R2 was caught in the explosion and was blasted to the wall behind it. It hit the wall extremely hard, and was severely injured. Its front was entirely destroyed, the metal now bent in any way, and there was a small hole where the bomb`s explosion had hit the worst. Circuits and pieces were coming out of there like organs from a human whose belly has exploded in a gory horror movie.

"Two down," Maikeru said, smiling.

"An imbecile child like you will never escape us!" ROMIS yelled. R3 and it had many scratches from the past explosion, but it was nothing as major as R2`s robotic injuries. Both R3 and ROMIS were far enough to avoid being harmed too much.

Maikeru just moved toward the ladder and began climbing. That`s when he saw, by the open hole in the ceiling that was the exit, a helicopter and the electricity generator.

_Flashback_

_Maikeru first went to Tonboherikoputa, the helicopter company. There, with a good part of Batara`s yens, he rented a helicopter and told the guy to wait for him atop the Rhonda Tower. Next, with the taxi cab, he went to Denryoku Kaisha Center and bargained with the electricity generator`s inventor to rent it for this operation. He rented it for the time he needed it, and when the helicopter`s pilot arrived there (Maikeru told him to stop there first), he helped him put the generator in the helicopter, with all the tools that go with it. The safety plan to the safety plan was now ready._

_End flashback_

Maikeru climbed up the ladder and raised it to the roof to make sure the Rhondas could not climb there. He started the generator and removed the tools from the wires. Below, ROMIS was yelling at R3.

"Take me on your shoulders, imbecile! I`ll get him that way!" It was difficult for them since they were both wet from the past flood caused by Maikeru. Maikeru looked at them.

"How pitiful. You have made three big mistakes in this plan, ROMIS," Maikeru said. "First, your robot mind could not predict the unexpected, and the unexpected was me. Second mistake, you kept thinking yourself superior to humans with your "smart" plan."

ROMIS was on R3`s shoulders now and about to reach the roof.

"Your last mistake..." Maikeru began, grabbing the covered wires whose ends were not connected to any tool and thus from which electricity was coming out, "...was to underestimate a loser." And as ROMIS was about to put a hand to the roof and climb to it, Maikeru gave it the wires, electrocuting the small robot and also R3. Since they were entirely wet from the flood a few instants ago, the shock was extreme and also, since ROMIS was on R3`s shoulders, it transmitted the shock to the bigger robot. Both flashed because of the electrocution, and a "boom" was beard from both of them; somehow, because of the scratches made to them by the bomb`s explosion, some electricity found its way inside their robot heads and destroyed their circuits. ROMIS and R3 fell to the floor, and stopped moving literally. They were now defeated, and Maikeru had won alone, without any help; only with the use of the right tools and a lot of luck.

Maikeru replaced his hair back to normal, switching back to Michael, turned off the generator, and helped the pilot put it back in the helicopter, before embarking in.

Just at that time, Kevin and Batara had the tower in sight. The helicopter landed in the empty parking lot, and revealed a victorious Michael. "I came, I saw, and I conquered those weirdos!" Michael said, laughing at the parody he just did of a famous line by Julius Caesar. He got acclaimed by Batara and Kevin, who were at the same astonished that their weak friend succeeded, and also not believing at all what was going on.

"You called the Tactical Squad, Batara?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, they are on their way. They said they were watching for those robots since some time as they did notice they were being overexploited. But you won the fight, Michael, how did you do that?" Batara was so surprised that he absolutely wanted to know how a simple teenager, with no real ability in fighting, could defeat four robots.

A few hours later, the Tactical Squad arrived on the place, with William Wong leading them. They found R4 on the ground floor, its circuits short-circuited by Batara`s debug laser. All the others were on the highest floor, though all in a terrible state. R1 was destroyed both inside and out because of the water, R2 was greatly damaged, and both ROMIS and R3 were now useless. After they all could take the robots out, they packed them into a great cage which is used in the Maximum Security Monster Jail and were sent to the E.A.S.E. to be locked in this scary place.

Michael turned to Batara. He had told them how he succeeded in beating the gang of robots. "Oh Batara, I almost forgot; I found your wallet on the ground, around the junk, when you were kidnapped. I used a lot of your cash from it to put my plan into motion. You sure you don`t mind?"

"Heh, you saved us after all, and that`s all that counts." Batara opened his wallet.

"Batara, don`t!" Michael yelled. "_He is not going to like what he will find there..._" he thought.

Batara calculated the remaining yens. You... used... ninety percent of... of everything I had left..." Batara staggered and fell on his back, unconscious.

Kevin chuckled. "Is it me or it happens in nearly every adventure?"

Michael tried to wake Batara up, but it was useless. Anyway, there were only a few thousand yens left in his wallet. Considering he had a million yens at the beginning of the trip... Oh well. At least Michael had proven he could be a hero when it was needed, and that was one big thing. Michael got on his knees to try and wake Batara, while Kevin also stopped chuckling and also got on his knees to help his pal wake up his second pal.

* * *

Author`s notes: Phew! That was one long arc for me. Let me explain; it was very difficult to write this story for many reasons.

The main reason was that among all the arcs in the story (there are ten arcs in all), this one was the least prepared one. Many of the things you have read about (such as the bomb and the debug laser) have been added during the writing as well as the names of all companies and places (I used the Google translator to find those semi-Japanese names).

The second reason is that it revolved around the least interesting character of the three. That made it quite a challenge as there was nothing to write about Michael; he`s a normal teenager. He has no power whatsoever (aside from his imagination and his ingenuity, as proven in this arc), and I really had to rack my brain to find many ways to make him interesting. I found the idea of Maikeru during the writing of the first chapter of this arc.

And last reason is that I am always too busy RPing on `s forums, which means I forget to write my story. This short chapter was supposed to be put up last Saturday or Sunday, to prove my point. I had only a few lines written Monday and I completed it all Tuesday. Quite difficult to say the least.

Now that I am done with all that, I would gladly tell you that I am working on Arc 5... But I want 10 reviews before posting the next chapter, which I will work on as soon as possible. That means, people: I need three reviews before you can see a new chapter!

On this, have fun and read you soon in Arc 5: Avengers. Bye!


	10. Arc 5: Avengers, part 1

Arc 5: Avengers, Part 1

Author`s notes: This happens in May 2050. This is a pretty interesting Arc, as it begins very roughly and integrates probably the longest appearance of the girls. It is also of a great importance for later on; however I had some troubles writing it, as I soon felt like I was going either too fast or too slowly, and this on many times; however the result, as of now, is a-okay. Read and have fun, and don`t forget to leave a review!

While this arc is being written, I want the review count to rise to 15 before I post the next arc. You have plenty of time. Arc 5 is three chapters long; I have to write those three chapters before I work on Arc 6. That`s why I want the review count to rise to 15. I repeat: fifteen, 15. Pretty please?

* * *

A voice pierced through the dark night surrounding the lost island. The crazed human, holding a multicolored spherical stone like a trophy high over his head, was already claiming victory.

"NO ONE CAN STOP APOCALYPSENIOR!" The man yelled like a dictator. He had wrinkles, a twitching eye, and a mouth forming an evil grin after this yell of victory. He was wearing most unusual clothing with a shirt claiming the existence of extraterrestrials and a pair of jeans with holes.

"We`ll see that!" another guy said. He was wearing normal jeans, but his shirt was red with a yellow, smiling face on the left, on the front, near the shoulder. "Kevin`s here to stop ya!" he yelled and attacked. However, the man self-proclaiming himself Apocalypsenior used the strange stone like a weapon-shield that blasted Kevin away without harming the teenager.

Michael looked at Batara. "Reassure me. You have a plan against that crazed guy?"

Batara had already speed-dialed on his affairs cell phone the number of the E.A.S.E. "Yes. The reinforcements are coming. Hopefully we`ll get that sick-o back on the right track." However, none of them could speak more as two tall figures stopped them.

"Where do you think you two are going?"

"Our leader is going to stop you!"

The two very odd-looking characters wore a spacesuit-like black outfit that stuck to their body. They also had some fluorescent green-colored oval protectors on their shoulders, their knees and their elbows. They also wore gloves over their strange hands and boots that looked like from outer space. The only other place that was fluo-green was their pelvis` protector, which was a triangular-shaped metallic object. Some kind of beginning of armor. The last thing strange about them was that their heads were totally covered by a helmet of some kind. It fully covered their heads, and it was impossible to see though. We could not even see the eyes. There was only a small circular hole where the mouth should be. And yet, no mouth was visible by this hole either. Batara recognized these masks as they resembled those worn by an extraterrestrial species in a very old science-fiction series.

"Stop right dead here, the weirdos!" One of them claimed.

"Weirdo?" Michael asked. "If someone is a weirdo, well it`s you!" And the blonde teenager was grabbed by the pale blue shirt and smashed on a nearby statue.

Batara could hardly believe what he was seeing. To think all that had begun with the discovery of a ship somewhere in Nevada recently, and finally it ended up into an all-out fight against this man, his "friends" and his newfound weapon.

Kevin retried what he was doing, only to be thrown back again, and onto another of those tall statues called Moai. Just WHY were they on Easter Island? It made no sense at all. And no matter how much Batara would explain in great details, Kevin only understood that there was a crazy man who had found a ship containing a weapon and two bizarre beings inside.

Holding the sphere high over his head, Apocalypsenior began mumbling something and suddenly he was rising from the ground. He was floating. Was it one of the many powers of this stone? "Hand my head, drown my fear, until you all just disappear!" the man yelled, and an energy beam blasted from the stone. It struck Kevin, but it bounced off the teenager and hit Apocalypsenior back. "How?"

Kevin`s pupils had already turned red. Plus he could see a blue aura around him. That`s it, his power had come back. The same power he used against Despair, and more recently against a falling cannonball.

During that time, Michael and Batara were struggling against the two strange characters wearing masks. Thy were underpowered in front of those two bizarre people. But they left the fight suddenly as their master called them.

"End-of-World! Armageddon! Get me rid of that pesky red-shirt teenager!" Apocalypsenior yelled.

Batara smirked. "Apocalypsenior is really focused on destroying the world, isn`t he? The three names refer to this kind of thing," he whispered to Michael.

"I know! That guy is sick."

End-of-World and Armageddon attacked Kevin, who turned around and attacked back. Kevin struck Armageddon with a good punch at the chest. However, End-of-World was aiming at Kevin from behind, and already running at the teenager. In a fraction of a second, Kevin turned around, threw End-of-World over his shoulder in a great judo move, and the two accomplices hit each other and fell on the ground. Kevin approached them and got ready to deliver a final blow, a finishing move, when Batara yelled at him.

"Kevin! The real enemy is there!" Batara yelled, pointing at Apocalypsenior.

Kevin turned to the strange old man, and prepared for an attack against the one who had begun all that. However, he did not have time to do more as a spaceship flew over Easter Island and landed, throwing Kevin, Apocalypsenior, Michael and Batara on the ground, and making the sphere shatter into six pieces.

The panel opened and revealed another being, which resembled a lot to End-of-World and Armageddon. The mask was very similar; however it has two large spikes, like horns, pointing to the back. End-of-World and Armageddon recognized this being, as it was their leader.

"Leader Kalim!" they yelled in unison.

"Kalim?" Batara wondered. "_I have already heard this name somewhere..._" he thought.

The one named Kalim walked toward Apocalypsenior, pulled out a strange-looking device that reminded of a gun, and shot the old man right at the heart. The conspirator died instantly, as the weapon`s ray had pierced through him and through his vital organ.

"That`s what you get, old man, for stealing technology you cannot control yourself," the thing said, putting back the gun-like device on himself. "Himself", because the voice sounded male, even though it had nothing human.

Batara looked in amazement to what had happened. "Um... thanks?" Batara tried.

"Thanks? Thanks?" Kalim answered, raising his own volume at each word. "Don`t say thanks for this. This is pitiful," he said, pointing to the dead corpse of Apocalypsenior.

"But... you killed him!" Michael replied. "Won`t you be in trouble or something?"

"In trouble?" the person said behind his mask. "We can`t get in trouble under your laws, you know. We are anything but human."

That`s when Batara understood. "You are extraterrestrials, is that it? I suppose those two are as well?"

Kalim looked at End-of-World and Armageddon. "Yes, they are." To prove it, he removed one of Armageddon`s gloves – the hand`s palm was green and covered with small scales, and the five fingers had short nails that were shaped like claws, even though they were too short to be. Kalim grabbed End-of-World and Armageddon, and packed them in his ship. "Those two have been infected by your culture, your Earth life and their master`s "beliefs"." Kalim grabbed each piece of the sphere and also packed them inside his ship.

Kevin couldn`t believe what was going on. Extraterrestrials really existed? Wow, that was very strange.

Kalim looked at them again. "Pitiful humans."

"Hey! Watch out with the words, or we`ll pay double!" Kevin yelled and he ran to Kalim, who simply pushed him back.

"Listen, you three. You are the only ones who know what happened. You are among the rare humans who know we are here. What I did today is... a favor. You wouldn`t understand why, and we won`t tell you either. I`ll go hide these pieces to avoid anyone can take them all again and cause havoc all around your blue planet."

"Um... got it," Batara said, though he had no idea what was going on.

Kalim embarked in his own ship, and the strange vehicle flew away from view.

"Well, time to go home," Batara told his friends. "Your parents must be worried sick."

Life had slowly come back to normal four days after this very strange evening. Kevin seemingly felt more and more suspicious about Kathy. He felt lucky she was not in his class, or else he would really have felt like being spied on. The truth is that ever since their duo mission inside the God of Robots, Kathy had grown likely to know this strange Kevin Kartner more… she was eager to know more about this teenager, not a bright light yet a hero… but she was more than anything surprised by that teenager's abilities. It looks as if Kevin could get a superhuman strength when in great danger.

That Thursday, Kathy came out of the school bus she uses to get to school every weekly morning, and met up with Michelle there. They both headed up inside Sainte-Esperance High School. While the morning was quite normal for both girls, things worsened during lunch.

Kathy grabbed her lunchbox and opened it. "Great, more salad sandwich with ramen and a bottle of water. What do you have in your lunchbox Michelle?"

"Not much actually," the blonde-haired girl replied, "just the usual stuff. A TV dinner to heat up in the microwave, a grape juice and a yogurt."

"I trade the ramen for the yogurt," Kathy bargained.

"You crazy?" Michelle replied. "It's not like I am going to let you have my only dessert of the day!" Then, seeing Kathy wasn't listening anymore: "Where are you looking at?" Michelle followed her friend's vision and saw she was looking at Kevin, who was in the waiting line to finally enter the cafeteria's kitchens and pick his lunch meal.

"He's pretty cool isn't he?" the brown-haired ponytailed girl said, taking a bite on her salad sandwich.

"Kevin?" Michelle asked. "He's forever wearing the same red shirt with a smiley. Plus it's a long-sleeved shirt. Isn't it hot by this time of the year?" The blonde girl stopped to look at Michael. "Him, however… he's more my style."

Kathy nearly choked on her bite. "Michael?" She laughed. "With his beige shorts and his pale blue shirt? He's got a few too many pounds too, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's Aryan, which means he can't be bad."

Kathy sipped on her water bottle. "Yeah, right. No matter how heroic this Michael may be, I bet he will never reach Kevin in terms of coolness. Besides, I think I remember him last year or the year before… or two years ago… he was threatened by these brainless jerks," Kathy finished, pointing at Calvin's table. This made the two girls laugh.

"Yeah, they are pretty brain-dead," Michelle said. "That Calvin is an idiot; I can't believe he is doing intimidation and racket." She peeked at the brute's table. Calvin, still wearing his headband, had unleashed a belch worthy to be the school's record, and his friends were laughing at this feat.

"They are total idiots, not like Kevin…" Kathy said, almost daydreaming.

"…and Michael…" Michelle replied, which made Kathy laugh again. But Kathy did not have time to reply as the said boys were coming to a table with their plates.

Kevin looked around. "Oh great, no more places."

Michael saw an empty table, but it was right next to their female doppelgangers. "Why not there?" he asked.

"I don't want to spend a whole lunchtime close to two girls who are spying on me and laughing with such a high pitched voice that it breaks my ears."

"…eardrums," Michael corrected.

"Whatever. Ah, and whatever for the table too, let's go." Kevin approached the table but took the seat farthest to Kathy. Michael took a seat closer to Michelle however.

The girls quit chatting about the boys while the boys only talked about yesterday's hockey game's results and extreme hoverboarding, and most of all not talking about love nor romance.

The rest of the afternoon went slow for the guys. It was so boring! Kevin spent almost half of it yawning. Of course Michael, who sat close because of a school project in the making, was there to shake his friend up when he was drifting to sleep. The girls also found their own classes boring; was it really useful to know about history in the third century B.D.? Boredom was on both sides, but it may have been because of an expected free day tomorrow. It turned out they had no school this Friday, which is something that happens very often in Quebec in middle school and high school.

Finally the bell rang, giving them a reason to leave. Kevin and Michael left their things in their lockers and hurried outside and toward the school buses.

The next day was supposed to be calm. It could have been; Michael was typing up ideas for a novel, or for a fanfiction, and Kevin had plans to do some aerial tricks with his Hoverboard. However, both their phones rang at a few minutes of interval. It was Batara. The phone first rang at Kevin`s.

"Kev, I need your help, and fast!"

"What`s the big deal, Batara? I am in break right now."

"You`ll rest later, I need a hero. Seriously, Kevin, we are in big trouble."

"What`s the big deal again? We can win against everything!"

Batara sighed. "Listen… it`s terrible at the E.A.S.E. William is freaked out because six boarders of the Maximum Security Monster Jail have escaped."

"Oh no…" Kevin said.

"Yep. Luckily, William Wong integrates trackers in the robotic boarders to ensure scientists can find them again when they escape. He needs our help for this. Oh, and he also needs to know who could have done that."

"Okay, I`m coming!" Kevin said, hanging up the phone, and he ran out to tell Michael. Just as Kevin had climbed up the small staircase leading to Michael`s house`s front door, the blonde teenager was coming out, in his usual attire. The two simply nodded in a way meaning "let`s go" and left on their bicycles toward Batara`s place.

They arrived fifteen minutes later. Batara hurried outside; Fastos was already outside, seemingly not knowing about the great "danger" Batara was talking about. The grasshopper robot was cleaning up the windows while humming a tune, although it was not really humming, rather making a sound that looked like humming.

"Guys, there is a great danger!" he yelled.

"We know, we know…" Michael said. "You told me that trice."

"You said what, four or five who escaped?"

"Six robots, Kevin. Among them… Despair."

"WHAT?" Kevin and Michael yelled. They remembered only too well that Despair. The robot with fourteen arms, fourteen weapons, and a danger rating of fourteen on ten.

Kevin had finally beaten that behemoth thanks to a weird ability that had not been seen on any other human then. Even though the three guys were not really asking themselves questions about that detail, it sure was strange. It had happened again six months later, when Kevin created a magical shield to destroy the huge cannonball that was coming crashing on the God of Robots and possibly destroying a huge area of the continent. Kathy was the only one that had seen this second sudden apparition of a supernatural strength in Kevin, but she probably thought she was hallucinating.

"Not only that," Batara said. "Sorrow, Anger and Terror also escaped."

"Who?" Michael asked. He had never heard of them.

"You remember when I said I had built three brothers for Despair? Well that was true. After they were built, I sent them to the E.A.S.E.'s Maximum Security Monster Jail along with their leader Despair. I was crazy, you know. Why build robots if they were to be locked up for life right after?" Batara asked.

"So you named the three robots in a similar manner to Despair, and that`s how Anger, Fear and Sadness are named now."

Batara corrected his friend. "No! Sorrow, Anger and Terror. Plus, much like Despair being a master of cold steel weapons, they all have a field of competence. Sorrow has old-school weapons, Terror has guns, and Anger has strange weapons."

"Weird…" Kevin said. "Wait, how many weapons in total now?"

"Well, fourteen plus ten plus eight plus seven… Thirty-nine," Batara calculated.

"THIRTY-NINE?" Both teenagers yelled.

"However, only Despair has the rolling ability," Batara tried to reassure them. As if this was going to reassure them.

However, soon, Kevin felt spied on. He turned around to a great tree on Batara`s front lawn. "Who`s there?"

"Nobody!" a girl voice said from behind.

"Well, if there`s nobody, I wonder why I asked…" Kevin said, as his two friends face-palmed.

Batara went there and looked behind to see Kathy. "What are you doing here, young lady?"

Kevin and Michael approached. "Kathy?" Kevin said. "You are spying on us!"

Kathy looked down. "Don't suspect someone of things that were not planned at first." She came out in the light. "Listen, I was calmly reading in the park when I saw you two zoom in front of it with your bikes. You had a weird look on the face, and you were too hurried to look around. So I grabbed my bicycle and followed you, in case I could help."

Kevin pffted. "Yeah, right. Got any proof of what you are saying?" Kevin had barely ended the last word that Kathy was holding The Picture of Dorian Gray, proving not only she was reading, but also what she was reading. Her own bicycle was also resting on the tree she was hiding behind of.

Batara shook his head. "Sorry, young lady, but the reason I called Kevin and Michael for concerns them and them only. They are the only ones who have to know what is going on and what we will do."

"Or else?" Kathy said. Then she remembered. "Oh, mister Byzlack! I remember you from the great fiasco in January. Good work in making the tallest and most dangerous robot ever," she said with irony.

"Listen, young lady, for one I thought it was danger-proof, but one of my enemies took control of it. It is in no way because of me."

Kathy smirked. "Yeah? Who was the architect, the designer, the leading brain of the project?"

Batara sighed. "Okay, if you want so much to know about it, then come in with us." Fastos opened the door for the four of them, but Kathy couldn't help but glance at the grand grasshopper robot, thinking that it was a pretty cool creation. Fastos entered after the four humans.

"So, mister Byzlack… what`s the big deal?" Kathy said in a manner similar to Kevin`s some time ago. Batara explained everything to her, at the same time explaining about the E.A.S.E. and the robots. "Okay… that`s too weird for me. Bye," she said, walking to the exit.

"Wait, Kathy!" Michael said. "If those six robots are left out in the wild, we will need a lot of help. We are only three after all. Please…"

Kathy thought about it for some long seconds. "You are all persistent. I guess that you`ll force me into helping you?"

"No!" Batara said, "But you should really help us. I know the Girl Trio can be helpful in this."

"Fine… I`ll call them." Kathy took her cell phone out and called Michelle and Bertha. "Hi! How`s it doing? …Sure, I`ll go in multi-call with Bertha okay? … …Okay, Bertha? …Yes, I need your help. …I`m at Batara Byzlack`s house… Okay, here is the address…" and she gave them the address.

Fifteen minutes later, the teenage girl and the woman were at Batara`s. Kathy welcomed them, and Batara invited them in, even though he was not used to having so much people in his house. In a few minutes, the situation was explained. This scared the two girls.

"What we will do? We have no talent whatsoever. We are girls, not quarterbacks or muscles!" Bertha said.

"Call Calvin the Idiot for that," Michelle said jokingly.

"It`s not time to joke, girls!" Michael said. "Six robots have escaped. But we are only half that number. We need you!"

"I suppose you need us at the E.A.S.E.?" Bertha said, smirking.

Batara stood in shock. "You three? To the E.A.S.E.? Better ask me to create a pink elephant or a peppermint tree!" Batara said, laughing. "No, seriously, that`s impossible. The code of the E.A.S.E. doesn`t allow anyone from the S.I.M.P.L.E. to visit the E.A.S.E. until they finally make a discovery worth it and deserve their place there."

Kathy looked at Kevin and Michael. "And them… have they seen it?"

Now Batara`s brain hamster was racing full-speed to find a reason. "Um… uh… Well… they are my friends. They were… guests. They were not even close to be scientists or anything, only guests. Bertha is too close for this, and she might discover the secrets we hold…"

"That`s not fair!" Michelle yelled, entering Kathy`s game. "If they could go there as guests, why couldn`t we? After all, right now Bertha isn`t a S.I.M.P.L.E. scientist, she is the everyday woman who happens to be our friend!"

Batara sighed. "Fine… I`ll call mister Shigemoto." Batara took out his affairs cell phone and speed-dialed Miyaru Shigemoto`s affairs cell phone number. He waited some minutes, some painful minutes, until it answered. "…Hi mister Shigemoto. I have something of great favor to ask you. …I know, it is a time of crisis, but what I want to ask you has something to do with this." Batara explained the situation to his superior. He only got a vague answer as Miyaru Shigemoto could not decide whether the three girls could come, after all they had nothing to do there… he reticently accepted. "Goodbye, see you in a few hours." He turned off his cell phone. "Okay, you three can come. But we will really have a lack of space in my jet…" he glanced at Bertha`s rounder belly, although the woman understood.

"Hey! Do not laugh about this, Batara," Bertha said. "Would you like that if I called you Dwarfara?"

Batara grumbled. "No." That last comment reminded him of Oranic who had a lot of fun calling the short scientist by this stupid nickname. "Okay, get in the jet. I think we can make some space in there."

Batara led them to his laboratory and opened the door to it, revealing his most secret rooms to the three girls. By pressing a secret button, he opened the underground hangar, revealing the jet, which was indeed quite small. It was not easy for them all to fit there, but they finally succeeded. Batara turned the machine on, the ceiling (Batara`s backyard) opened, and the jet left toward the E.A.S.E. Tower.

The gang arrived at the E.A.S.E. three hours later; the four teenagers watched a movie during that time. Bertha discussed with Batara, although he would never reveal a thing about the E.A.S.E.`s secrets or a way to climb the ladder and finally reach the organization's level. The surprise was greater for the 31yo woman when she finally saw the grand tower resting on an island in the ocean. The jet landed carefully in the E.A.S.E.`s hangar, and the door opened for the six people to get out. Batara led them out of the hangar, through the peaceful synthetic fake forest of the island, then toward the grand park with large fields of grass, although it is as synthetic as the forest, and finally they reached the E.A.S.E. Batara put his palm on the fingerprint reader and the doors opened, letting them in. By the biggest of luck, Veronica and Hyeronimus were already there. William Wong was sitting on a chair close to them.

"Hi there!" Batara said, recognizing them.

"Hello Batara!" Veronica said. Hyeronimus only waved a hello. "It`s a total mess here. No one else is here; they are all searching around the planet for those six runaway robots."

"But why exactly did Miyaru called me here for this work?" Batara asked. "It`s the only thing I can`t explain. Along with who freed the six robots."

"It`s really simple," William said. "Four of the six robots have been created by you. Despair, Sorrow, Anger and Terror all escaped, along with two robots who were new boarders since only two months; residents of Japan, I think you know who I`m talking about."

Michael knew. "You mean… the Rhondas? Impossible, I electrocuted them to death."

William smirked. "You know, when they were brought here, they were rebuilt on the demand of Donarudo. He wanted them intact. He of course wanted them to have an all-new A.I. card in their robot brains so they`d forget about their murderous ideas. Sadly, looks like someone freed them."

Bertha was amazed at everything; all those desks, all representing a country and all counting a certain number of chairs for the number of E.A.S.E. scientists by country… this high ceiling that also happened to be a spread-out map of the world, a geographically accurate unfolded plan of Earth. Bertha could not believe it, it was… no word could describe this feeling. It was her first time inside the E.A.S.E. and she now hoped more than ever to finally find her place here…

Kathy and Michelle couldn`t believe it either. It was a wonderful place. Some kind of utopia? No, impossible. This piece of land probably had secrets; after all, Kathy heard Batara chat with Bertha on the trip. He kept his mouth shut on certain details. That meant this place wasn`t clean of all crimes… but said crimes probably were not going to be revealed anytime soon. Michelle didn't believe it either. It was so cool. That place was huge too!

There was a spiraling staircase climbing up and leading to the higher floors. However, they were needed on the conference floor, and considering the situation, it wasn`t time to spend energy on climbing a set of stairs. An escalator was placed near them, so they took it for a speedier rising to the conferences floor. The Trio, their three girl followers, William, Veronica and Hyeronimus got in and Batara selected the conferences floor. Kevin noticed Veronica had a name tag saying "Veronica Vallieres", and told it to Batara.

"Ah? Oops, my bad. Sorry, I forgot her family name the other time, but now it`s fine."

The escalator stopped on the conferences floor and opened its doors, letting the nine people out. Batara led them to the biggest room. Miyaru Shigemoto was already waiting there. They all took a seat, and Miyaru explained the situation. Everyone listened to the Eldest.

"The six robots who escaped the Maximum Security Monster Jail are…" He turned on a projector and showed a picture of each robot as he was naming them. "…Despair… Sorrow… Anger… Terror… R3… and ROMIS. As you probably already guessed, four of these robots are walking weapons. They have a total of thirty-nine weapons, which make them quite… invincible if they fight together. Let`s say a knight in Medieval armor wouldn`t survive very long even with his protection. As for the two others, R3 and ROMIS are, or rather were two robots who aimed to ruin the Rhonda Company but apparently stumbled on Michael Marchand, who electrocuted them after a series of trial and error in which he successfully destroyed their entire "family". We also know that the Despair Brothers are not related in any way to the two Rhondas, we only suppose that they have all been freed for the same motive."

"All freed? Wait…" Michelle began. She hadn`t said much yet, but she was trying to, now. "…doesn`t that mean someone has helped them?"

"It is the case, sadly," Miyaru Shigemoto said. "But I give the spot to William Wong, the security operator. He is the one who found out about the disappearance."

Kevin, Michael and Batara were used to all this action. It was not the first time they had problems with robots; it was rather the fourth time. However, Kathy, Michelle and Bertha were scared now. They were really wondering what they had been thrown into. Veronica Vallieres and Hyeronimus Hetmann were also very surprised by what was going on; this case was anything but normal.

"Thanks, boss," William said, taking a seat near the projector. "Many clues have led me to believe it is a scientist of the E.A.S.E. who freed the six robots, and probably not for any good motive. And not any; someone who knew of those six robots and also of their abilities. Also, I found a strange liquid 0n the crime scene… after our leader, Miyaru Shigemoto, analyzed it, we found out it was the regenerating potion used by Carlos Cyrano, AKA Oranic, to gain the strength of his twenties."

"Great," Batara mumbled. "I KNEW it had to be Oranic`s doing. But why?"

"Apparently… the reason is this," William said, as the projected image changed to the sphere the Trio had seen the weekend before.

"That`s… that`s the sphere used by Apocalypsenior a week ago!" Michael said, and the girls thought this was a pretty strange thing he just mentioned.

"Well, apparently Apocalypsenior was hoping to destroy the world or cause terror on the many continents thanks to this strange sphere. Apparently, it has the power to disrupt the balance of nature and cause disasters around the world. It is alien technology, so it is an extremely advanced technology; thus we still haven`t found out how this sphere changes the atmosphere and causes disasters; however, its instructions are very simple. The only thing I don`t understand is that it understands the English language," Mr. Shigemoto resumed.

"…Wait…"Michael said. "After our short battle on Easter Island, that alien who grabbed the Sphere…"

"Are you sure it was an alien?" Hyeronimus asked. "I know they exist, but why would one even bother to visit Earth?"

"…" Michael thought, speechless by the logical reasoning brought by Hyeronimus. "…whatever, if they weren`t, then the disguise was successful, and the flying machines were also quite alien-like. But why were they speaking English then?"

"See?" Hyeronimus refuted. "It must have been a human playing a trick."

"Ateention people!" William yelled, bringing their attention back to him. "For what we know, the six pieces of this powerful weapon have all been hidden in caves around the world, in hopes nobody would ever find them again. I think Oranic hopes to get them all thanks to the robots and then use this weapon to finally take control of the planet."

"…Imagine if he was able to control the nature!" Batara said. "He would throw disasters toward the great governments, terrorizing them and making thousands of victims, and he would ask for supreme power. The world would be his!"

"That is, if he does not destroy the world first with this technology…" Miyaru Shigemoto said.

"What is the plan exactly?" Veronica asked.

"Well…

"William began. "Since they are all robots, one thing can be very useful in stopping them, and Batara should know what."

"You mean the Debug Laser?" Batara asked, showing one.

"Yes… a direct laser to those robots` heads and they will be unable to do a thing, which means we can bring them back here and lock them up. However, since they are all on a different continent, it may be possible that they go through their task already. So, to make sure we catch them on time, we will all leave for one location. Here are the teams: Kevin with that teenage ponytailed girl, Michael with the blonde short-haired teenage girl, Batara with the tall woman, Veronica alone, Hyeronimus alone, and I`ll go myself on another location."

"But… how will we do to retrace those pieces? We have no idea where it is, and so we can`t know where to search for them!" Michelle said, using her logic.

"That`s when one machine comes in handy," Miyaru Shigemoto said. "A scientist, some years ago, after we discovered the existence of extraterrestrials, has created a machine that is able to connect with all the satellites to get a whole picture of Earth. However, this machine`s main ability is to find any metal that is not known on Earth. If those six pieces, all for the same sphere of alien technology, is made with materials that have never been seen on Earth, it is possible to retrace them and we will know where they are."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Hyeronimus asked. "Let`s go!"

To be continued…

* * *

Author`s notes: Sorry for finishing this so easily, I had problems finding an end. I`m a week late in my writing, but that`s mostly because of my parents always asking me to get off the computer. I am forever busy on three thousand things (almost not exaggerating) and thus my writing suffers. However, I am proud to announce that the next chapter will also be the hundredth page on Word!

Read you soon!


	11. Arc 5: Avengers, part 2

Author`s notes: Phew, it`s been a really long while, huh? Sorry, the extremely late arrival of chapter eleven is for three big reasons: One, I caught an extreme writer`s block halfway through the chapter. Two, I couldn`t write much of it because of college, which began since already two months (it makes me mad to know it`s been THAT long that i didn`t update!), and three, I was working on other projects. So I couldn`t do much, but I found time during the Autumn break (since I have a break week per semester, two per year) to finish Chapter 11. I am happy.

* * *

Arc 5: Avengers, Part 2

The whole group of nine heroes left for the room in which the Alien Technology Tracker was. Miyaru Shigemoto was already there, probably thanks to some secret passageways that could be found in the tower, maybe in the whole island, and of which only the Eldest knew about. Miyaru pressed a few buttons, made a few changes, and on the tall screen a 3D map of Earth appeared some minutes later, along with a few red dots. Miyaru explained about this machine.

"Okay, it has now found the alien technology. But look at the map closely…" Miyaru spun the map and calculated the number of red dots. "Five, six… seven? There is something else on Earth that isn`t from our planet." Miyaru used the function "Zoom in" and noticed something even stranger about that red dot. "It is moving, too. It just crossed over the state of New Mexico and is going down toward Texas. It may be unrelated to our problem, however. The machine calculates that the ship is going at over a hundred miles per hour and that, if it goes in a straight line…" Miyaru pressed a few buttons and moved a few things, and the machine calculated distances. "…it would reach the red dot located in Antarctic in about ten hours."

"And if we go there as well?" Veronica Vallieres asked.

"Well, since the E.A.S.E. is considerably closer to the Antarctic than this moving dot is, I suppose it is possible, at the best speed our Earth machines can go, to arrive there approximately one hour before the moving red dot. But who is ready to go in the coldest of all environments only to search for a piece of alien technology?"

"We will!" Bertha said, rising from wherever she was sitting. She was holding Batara by the arm, and the short scientist was in an uncomfortable position as he was raised off the ground.

"Bertha… My arm hurts…" Batara said.

"You didn`t say please," Bertha teased on an however severe tone.

"Please, can you put me down, Miss Bertha?" Batara implored, which gave Bertha no other choice but letting him down.

"So, as I said," Bertha said while Batara was massaging his arm, "we will go. At the S.I.M.P.L.E., we understood a long while ago that not every invention has to be a machine. As such, I think I may have found the perfect something for the mission we will need to complete." She presented one of the few inventions she worked on. It looked like a raincoat, as it has the same bright yellow color. However, the whole coat was covered with pockets. There were pockets all over the surface, and Bertha showed them the inside of the coat, which was also covered in pockets. There were even more pockets in the hood.

Batara inspected this invention with a doubtful look. "And how does it work?" he asked.

"That`s simple," Bertha answered. "You see, you could just put items in all these pockets… but the design is there for a reason. In case of extreme heat, put ice packs in these pockets and you will considerably cool down. The ice packs will constantly be in contact with you and will take some time before melting, which guarantees hours and hours of cold during summer."

"Yes, but doesn`t those ice packs somehow block the motor and articulation of the arms when the person inside is moving?" Hyero asked.

"We are working on this problem," Bertha replied. "When it`s the other way around, when the person has to face very low temperature like the one in Antarctic, you full up the pockets with wadding. If you have enough wadding, you can get a better coat than any other coat sold in stores. You can reduce the amount of wadding to suit the temperature you will go in. Come on, you have to admit it`s rather smart…"

"Yeah, right…" Veronica admitted. "Clothing technology has pretty much reached its maximum for now, but the reason for which we don`t have a section for this is that it isn`t spread enough."

Bertha grumbled. "How about I go try it myself then? I am going with Batara," Bertha said.

"Please save me!" Batara yelled to Miyaru. The Eldest thought of it shortly and gave an answer.

"I am sorry Batara, but as I learned myself, it is impossible to argument with a woman who is decided into doing something." This answer caused Batara to face-palm.

"Great, but don`t count on me when you`ll need a helping hand," the small scientist grumbled.

After long complaints and longer arguments and even longer yelling, the three teams finally set off to wherever they were being sent to. Kevin and Kathy embarked in the Sonix, a jet that could reach intense speeds, as their mission was to get the piece of Asia, which wasn`t really close. Batara was being forcefully dragged by Bertha in the Walrus, a jet that was also very fast and had a very special armor that could resist great heats but also great colds. As for Michael and Michelle, their target was the closest of the three duos, as they had to fly to a spot near the tiny country of Ecuador that gave the world map`s horizontal line its name. They were going to drive a simple, normal ship, the Yeller.

Kevin and Kathy had an argument again on who should drive it… or rather who would take the driver`s seat, as Miyaru Shigemoto knew teenagers would certainly not be excellent pilots and had activated the automatic pilot on both the Sonix and the Yeller. After Kathy said better proof that she should take the driver`s seat, Kevin sat on the passenger`s seat all while grumbling. The jet lifted off in the air, the reactors changed from below the Sonix to behind it, and the jet zoomed through the air at a great speed.

Kevin sighed. "I wonder why we dragged you along. It makes no freaking sense."

"Yes it makes sense," Kathy replied. "How I love the trip as of now! It`s so awesome to find out about this great secret!" She was almost exploding of joy.

"Yeah, but what if you are a spy or something?" Kevin asked, definitely angering Kathy.

"GET OVER THAT!" She yelled. "It`s like the zillionth time you`re accusing me of spying on you and your two friends."

"But you were spying on us some hours ago, remember?"

Kathy sighed. "I know, but I had my own reasons this time." She looked at the steering wheel, which was spinning without anyone doing a thing for it. "Listen Kev, I really doubt being a scientist`s friend is a good idea."

"And why? Everything is so cool!" Kevin said.

"Think about it! I wasn`t there to see it, but I know that Despair is a danger. And when I say that, I mean it. Next was that strange tsunami you saved me from, which I suppose was also created by some dangerous experiment led by those people of the E.A.S.E. Then, remember, the God of Robots, or rather now the God of Scrap Metal, that was really something dangerous. And now THIS!"

"But Kathy, listen…" Kevin began.

"No, YOU`ll listen! I`m not done yet. You think I`m a spy? Fine, have it your way. What, will I need to save your life so you`ll stop thinking that? If I do save you, you`ll owe me a big one."

Kevin sighed. "Fine."

And they set off toward their destination, the Sonix auto-piloted so that they don`t mess up or get lost. Earth is huge, after all.

However, Michael and Michelle were already getting along better as they embarked in the Yeller.

"Can I take the driver`s seat?" Michael asked.

"Okay," Michelle said.

"You don`t mind?"

"No, I don`t." Michelle smiled.

"Okay then," Michael said, letting her sit on the passenger seat. "Wow, being at the commands gives an awesome feeling."

"Even if it`s the autopilot driving?"

"Even better." Michael smiled as well. "Say, I was wondering… you know, Kevin considers your friend Kathy like some sort of spy…"

"Ah, this?" Michelle burst out of laughter. "Worse is that she thinks same about him since they always see each other wherever they go!"

"Really?" Michael asked.

"Totally. In fact, she doesn`t hate him. She just tries to hide it by keeping up that rivalry."

"Ah." Michael said. "Anyway, we better get going." As he said that, the jet lifted off-ground and flew toward Ecuador.

Batara and Bertha also had a lot of problems getting along. "I`m taking driver`s seat, I`ll pilot!" Batara said.

"No, I will pilot," Bertha argued.

"I will pilot!" Batara said.

"No, it`s me!" Bertha replied.

"I take passenger," Batara said, trying to fool her into saying the same thing.

"OK, have it your way," Bertha said, laughing. "Nice try, but I am not fooled by the old rabbit-or-duck-season prank."

Batara sat on the passenger's seat of the Walrus, while Bertha sat in front of the steering levers.

"Okay, frankly, we shouldn`t be so rough with each other," Batara said. "I mean, we are both scientists, even if I am a level above. We should act like adults, not like teenagers."

"That wouldn`t change much," Bertha said. "Even if we act as adults for the whole time this adventure lasts, we still won`t be able to reason with robots who have no emotions or reason whatsoever."

"A point for you," Batara said as Bertha revved up the Walrus` motor and prepared to drive toward Antarctica. "But the robots often have Artificial Intelligence with added "emotions"."

"Now that`s really brilliant. I suppose this has brought peace around the world? I know just too well what happens because of those so-said emotions. And it makes the robots even more dangerous."

"But what can I do?" Batara asked.

"For now, shut up, you`re sinking faster than an unlucky adventurer in quicksand. Just wait till we arrive in Antarctica, and then we`ll see what we can do."

"Okay, okay… sheesh, I hope you are not like that everyday," the short scientist whispered.

In the hangar, William was packing up his hunting tools. He was going to need them; his prey was a robot, and he needed something to pierce these metallic shells. He needed to bring them back in the E.A.S.E.`s Maximum Security Monster Prison. No one escapes the prison, for it could be extremely dangerous for humanity, and for the organization itself, if these monsters or these rebel robots would show up to the humans. The six robots had to be brought back in. He looked through his arsenal: Harpoons, a demi-dozen of debug lasers (Batara furnished the organization with many of them, in case other creations become dangerous), and other useful weapons. For him, it was routine. As the Security Operator, his task was to ensure none of these creations of mankind escape. Sadly, Oranic somewhat found a way to enter and freed those robots (William couldn`t understand how Oranic could have survived the horrible screams and appearances of the residents), but the fact was that Oranic had succeeded in his evil deed. That`s also why William was the leader of the E.A.S.E. Tactical Squad. When scientists have trouble with a robot or have created something too dangerous for the world, they rush to the city the member lives in, battle the thing, then put it to sleep (or deactivate it), then send it in the prison. William embarked in his personal ship, which was heavily armed (a war machine would be a euphemism to describe the vehicle), and left off to his destination.

Veronica and Hyeronimus exchanged a kiss before climbing in their different ships. They left finally, exchanging a last "Ich liebe dich" and a "Je t`aime" before leaving.

Miyaru Shigemoto looked at the six ships leave, one at a time, and decided to stay on the remote island to look at the heroes` progression and help guide them.

Several hours passed since the ships had left. Miyaru hoped everyone was right; everyone could have been badly injured in this. He rested in his office, on the highest floor of the E.A.S.E. Tower, which was heavily guarded, inaccessible to anyone who could find the ten-number code. He had been leading the E.A.S.E. since already fifteen years, and he was part of it since over sixty years.

In his office were pictures, painted by world-renowned professionals, of the past men who received the title of Eldest. As of now, there had been only five leaders of the E.A.S.E. He was the one who lived the longest, probably thanks to all the discoveries that helped health, in the last decades. But with what had happened came a great dilemma; one day or another, unless he dies before, Oranic would become the Eldest. He is the fifth oldest member of the organization, after all. But due to all his crimes against the world, Miyaru wondered which punishment should be given to the rebelling old man. The answer could not be found so easily. But he believed in his troops; he knew that, some way or another, Oranic, the Despair Brothers, and the two Rhondas would be arrested.

Miyaru could not change the rules that had been established by the past Elders. Although many of these "rules" had to be changed, absolutely. He kept pondering on this when, from the window, he saw the Walrus coming toward the remote island. He took the secret passageway leading out of his office, and in a matter of minutes, he arrives near the hangar, where Batara and Bertha were already landing the Walrus.

"So? How did it go?" Miyaru asked.

"To make the long story short…" Bertha began. She took Batara in her arms, and showed him to Miyaru. "…he was too weak for the mission in the great South Pole. But we did meet what was the red moving dot."

"And what was it, exactly, miss Bertha?" Miyaru asked, as polite as ever.

"It was en extraterrestrial spaceship. When Batara saw it land, he recognized it as an alien ship he said to have seen on Easter Island. To me, it makes no sense."

"Ah, yes. The Killon."

"Who?" Bertha asked. "What is a Killon?"

"Well… I am sorry, but it is one of the E.A.S.E.`s many secrets. You do realize you are a S.I.M.P.L.E. scientist, thus those secrets are forbidden to you. In fact, many secrets are hidden to even our most loyal scientists."

That`s when Batara began mumbling. He was slowly getting back to normal.

"Tell me, miss Bertha, what happened to fellow scientist Batara?" Miyaru asked.

"He just froze. I thought my double-sided coat would have worked perfectly, but it didn`t."

Abstaining himself from any comment on a lower-graded scientist`s creation, Miyaru asked: "And did this extraterrestrial speak to you?"

"Well…" Bertha thought. "Yes, he did. He presented himself as Kalim. He said he was some kind of protector. When I told him about the pieces of alien technology, he said he was coming to Antarctic to get the piece back. He knew someone was going to use them again."

Batara opened the eyes. "Bertha Beaulieu? What happened?" he asked.

"I shouldn`t have used you as lab rat for my coat, it didn`t work well. So I brought you back. I didn`t want to lose a human life."

"Thanks…" Batara said, coughing. "That`s very nice of you. Now, put me down please?"

Bertha put Batara down and he got on his feet.

"Now, what do we do?" Bertha asked.

"Now…two teams and three single hunters are still chasing those pieces. They are ordered to come back, no matter if it is a success or a failure. Then, we will see what is our next plan."

One at a time, the remaining heroes arrived. First were Michael and Michelle, who arrived with nothing. They said they chickened out as soon as they met with Revenge, who was using dangerous weapons. They couldn`t get the piece. Next was Hyeronimus, who said Despair was too strong for him, and barely escaped death. Then, Kevin and Kathy arrived aboard the Sonix; they had tried to defeat ROMIS, but the little robot tricked them into a trap in the cave, and they helped each other getting out of a rather tall pit. Next, Veronica Vallieres arrived, but she held nothing. R4 had almost knocked her out. William came back, and despite everything he had tried, he couldn`t catch Sorrow. Because of an attack on it, the harpoon gun didn`t work well, and almost exploded in his hand, and so Sorrow escaped.

They had no piece, and every robot had one. They were in really deep trouble now. They headed to the conference room to brainstorm for a solution.

"So what do we do?" Veronica asked. Hyeronimus was dragging the Extraterrestrial Technology Tracker into the conference room. They could see the six little red dots were now all packed up together, which implied they were all in the same jet or ship. The machine calculated the linear trajectory would lead the jet toward Easter Island.

"Here are the facts, everyone," Miyaru began. "The six pieces of the stone are still under the enemy`s control. However, we have also learned important bits of information, coming from the moving red dot. It happens that an extraterrestrial named Kalim N`Djaro, an army general of a species known as the Killons, is also trying to protect us from the dangerous powers of the alien technology."

"I never told him the alien`s family name, I didn`t even know he had one," Bertha thought. "I guess they already knew this alien."

"In other words, despite his allegiance, he is an ally. Sadly, it seems that he also failed in retrieving even a single piece of the technology. I also know that Batara had an altercation with a lunatic man nicknaming himself Apocalypsenior, and it happened on Easter Island. Thus, the robots are maybe trying to re-create the ritual in the same location."

"But why would it be on Easter Island?" Veronica asked. "I mean, they are looking for a place that is not linked to any continent? But that island belongs to Chile, right?"

"Ye, but I assume Kalim, or his species, do not know about it yet. Or simply, the man nicknaming himself Apocalypsenior had chosen this location as a symbolic one. In any case, since Apocalypsenior has done this on Easter Island, and the robots are also going to do it there…"

"…that means it was all planned by old man Oranic!" William guessed. He was maybe not a scientist, in the real meaning of the term, but he was still very smart.

"Exactly. And we know how to stop it!" Batara said. "What are we waiting for? Let`s go!"

"Wait!" Miyaru said, but everyone had rushed outside into their respective jets and readied to leave toward Easter Island. Night was falling soon; the enemy jet`s trajectory showed they would arrive at Easter Island in about half an hour. It would take them a bit more time, but they would stop it at all costs. There was no way those six avengers would destroy the world. The six jets departed toward the island of the Rapanui people.

Miyaru saw them leave, with a thought for them. "This battle will be decisive for the fate of the world; but any battle that is about a world-destroying device or a mastermind`s plan for the same goal is a battle for the fate of the world. I just hope they thought about bringing debug lasers to easily get rid of the robots."

They forgot the debug lasers.

"Everything is ready?" R3 asked. He was holding one of the pieces. The four Despair Brothers, each holding a piece in a hand (they all had at least one appendix that was a hand), and ROMIS was also ready.

"Everything is ready, imbecile," ROMIS said. "Now, let`s hurry up. Oranic Cyrano told us that when the pieces would be reunited, we would reign over the world, and we would get revenge over our enemies!"

"This Maikeru… and the Trio Robots… we have been wishing for a month to destroy them…" R3 said with his metallic voice.

That`s when the six flying ships arrived near the island.

"We are being visited by some imbeciles who think they can defeat us," ROMIS said.

Despair, Anger, Sorrow and Revenge replied to this statement by a concert of clanks and whirrs. "Then, let`s get it over with. When the pieces will have been assembled, we will be invincible!"

However, the six robots had to hurry, as the nine heroes were already coming out of their jets. They were all heavily armed – at least, the best they could, with weapon inside their vehicles – and ready to face against the enemies. William had repaired his harpoon gun, which means he could use it during this battle that would be, without a doubt, an epic one. However, since these nine heroes didn`t have any tactic or attack plan, they didn`t know what they were going to do.

"We are gonna stop you!" Kevin yelled, confident that once again, his strange power would save him. Kevin ran toward Revenge, the Despair Brother who had many weapons of the strange kind, and kicked it in the back. Revenge fell toward the sphere's pieces, stopping the six robots` symbolic act, and the pieces fell on the ground.

"Get that imbecile, imbeciles!" ROMIS yelled. Despair pulled out of its body an axe and readied to attack Kevin, but Kevin avoided the weapon, grabbed the tiny tube that served as Despair`s arm and tried to rip it off, without success.

"Uh oh…" Kevin said. A direct slap from Despair`s clawed hand sent Kevin on the floor, his cheek slightly bleeding from three scratches. "You junk of a machine!" he yelled.

"Kevin!" Batara yelled. "You are not alone here, let us help you!" And Batara revealed a debug laser he had on him.

"Wait… did we even think about bringing debug lasers with us?" Hyeronimus asked.

"No… Zut," Veronica said, after remembering they rushed out without bringing any. Batara had a spare one, but apparently he was the only one.

"We`ll do without, then!" William yelled, running toward the six robots, aiming with his harpoon. He shot toward Sorrow, who avoided it. However, the robot pulled a halberd from its torso, and spun the weapon in front f itself in a circular motion, which made the harpoon change its trajectory. "I didn`t think of that…" William said. "Guys, I need help here!"

"Let`s go!" Michelle said, clearly more courageous than Michael was. Batara, Bertha, Hyeronimus, Michelle, Michael and Veronica ran to the robots and a great brawl ensued. Jumping into the melee, Kevin began attacking around. William was also doing his best. He was shooting around, aiming at the robots, but they were all helping each other like brothers. No wonder the four tall robots were nicknamed the Despair brothers!

Veronica had aimed for the small ROMIS. She caught the small robot by the arm. "Heh, robot-kiddo, where do you think you are going?"

"Let me go!" the Rhondas` leader said.

"No. You are like a child, and you have never learned good manners. And I am going to teach you!" She lifted ROMIS by its arm. However, the small robot kicked her in the stomach, cutting her breath. She dropped ROMIS, who kicked Veronica on the tibia. "Why you little brat!" Veronica said. As revenge, she grabbed ROMIS by its two arms, lifted him off the ground, and in a swift move, knocked it on a Moai.

"Imbecile!" ROMIS screamed.

"Learn more words, robot-kid!" Veronica lectured him. "And be polite toward humans, or else I`ll throw you several times on a Moai!"

During that time, Michael and Michelle had left the battle, as they were clearly unable to fight. However, they got an idea.

"You think what I`m thinking, Mike?" Michelle asked.

"Sure!" Michael replied. "Since all that interest these robots, we should…"

"…go get these pieces, and hide them, or bring them in the jets! That way, the robots won`t have access to them, and we`ll be fine!" Michelle completed.

Michael ran toward the piece that was near Veronica, who was still lecturing ROMIS by hitting him on a Moai, and grabbed the piece rather easily. However, he got noticed by Anger, the Despair Brother who uses guns. Anger was already busy fighting off Despair and trying to have the short scientist drop his debug laser, so it couldn`t do much. However, after Anger saw Michael, Sorrow rushed toward Michael to attack him.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaang!" Michael said, running away just in time. "What's going on?"

Bertha punched Anger in the robotic eye, breaking its captor, and helped Batara off the gunslinger. "Looks like these robots act together as real brothers, they look like they are… connected. You know what I mean, Batara?"

"Um… that`s my fault, I fear," Batara said. "When I built Anger, Sorrow and Revenge, I always had in mind that they were some sort of brothers. Thus, I gave them some way to chat with each other through electromagnetic signals. In other words, they know what the others are thinking… and when one is in trouble, the other can take over."

"Thank you, really, Batara," Bertha said ironically.

"Hey, the scientists!" Kevin said. He was apparently trying to avoid the many attacks thrown by Despair. "I dunno if you remember… but we are in big trouble right now, stop chatting and start brawling!"

"Help meeeee!" Michael yelled as he was ran away by Sorrow. "I hope they don`t have Despair`s rolling abilities!"

"They don`t!" Batara said. "Only Despair has them, after I realized it would become too dangerous."

"Phew… but I`m not reassured!" Michael said, avoiding the wooden mace Sorrow was now using against him. "Kevin, feel free to use that aura of yours, and those freakish abilities, as soon as they appear!"

"They still didn`t appear!" Kevin replied. "I can`t fight them off when I don`t have them!" He was having quite the trouble with Despair. "WHY am I always facing that gray trash can of a lethal weapon?" Kevin asked between his teeth, while trying to escape from the swords in the robot`s feet.

William arrived from behind Despair and conked the robot behind the head with his harpoon gun. The robot turned to him, took out of its lower body two sabers, and attacked William, but the security operator simply countered the attack with his harpoon gun, using it as a shield of some kind to spar the Arabian swords.

During that time, Hyeronimus was facing R3. "You do know that Oranic is using you all for his evil plan."

"He told us we were his associates. In other words, we help him and he will help us… become the new leaders of the devastated Earth!" and R3 attacked Hyeronimus, who wasn`t swift enough to avoid R3`s fist.

He received the hit on the belly. "Ugh!" He tried to punch his opponent at the same place, but it was unsuccessful, because R3 had a strong metal shell. To reply to that move, R3 punched Hyeronimus right on the cheek, leaving a great bruise.

Veronica saw that. "Hyero chéri!" she yelled. She stopped what she was doing (i.e. hitting ROMIS on a Moai) and used her improvised weapon to injure R3. A swift batter-like move and R3 and ROMIS hit each other, leaving a big valley in R3`s frame, and also harming ROMIS.

"That will teach you in punching my boyfriend!" Veronica said.

During that time, Michelle and Michael were trying to ward off Sorrow, all while picking up pieces of the Sphere. They could store three of them near the jets. Luckily for them, Sorrow was an extremely slow robot, like its brothers; however, by respecting an okay perimeter around the robot. They were lucky; every other opponent was busy with either of their teammates, so they could do their task without having to care about either ROMIS, R3, Despair, Anger and Revenge.

Kathy looked around. Everyone was injured; many of her teammates were actually doing really good, avoiding most attacks, and they were not too injured. That was a sign that they were all good avoiders. She could avoid most of the enemies. She set her eyes on Kevin, who was trying to get away from Despair while the tall robot was disturbed by William. It was really dangerous. But then she saw Anger, the gunslinger Despair Brother, who was aiming toward Kevin, and ready to shoot from a revolver. "KEVIN!" She ran toward her rival just as Anger was shooting. She jumped on Kevin and threw the both of them out of the bullet`s way.

"Kathy!" Kevin said. "What has gotten into you?"

"The gun robot was going to kill you with a bullet!" Kathy explained.

"…thanks…" Kevin said, unsure that he had really said that. In fact, he didn`t even believe it was Kathy who would save him.

"Now you owe me a big one," Kathy said. "And I hope it proved to you that I am not a spy."

"Yeah, yeah…" Kevin said, getting up with his female rival. However, Anger was getting ready to shoot again, this time with a higher caliber. Kevin saw it, and he knew that it was time for the battle to end. He pushed Kathy aside. "You want me, the shooting range on two legs? Then go, hit me! HIT ME!" Kevin screamed.

Anger prepared to shoot Kevin, but at the very last second instead aimed for Kathy, and shot. Kevin only had time to get in front of Kathy and received the bullet on the forehead… but no blood splattered. Kevin had begun glowing of a blue aura barely hundredths of seconds before the bullet had hit him.

Kevin smirked. Now he knew that his mysterious power appeared only when he was about to receive a deadly attack. But he also knew something more; now that he had that glowing aura around him and all the mighty powers he remember using only twice before in his life, the odds were now on the side of the nine humans.

* * *

Author`s notes: I really liked to write again this chapter. I would also like to bring your attention to a oneshot I wrote earlier in October: "Errors", a oneshot about William and his very particular job.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really like to write battle scenes, but it is extremely difficult to write this kind of scene when the number of fighters is over ten. But I still really enjoyed writing. I`ll let you to guess what happens for chapter twelve... I don`t know when it will show up. But one thing I am sure, however, is that I will try to write the chapter before the end of the year. Well, read you soon!


	12. Arc 5: Avengers, part 3

Disclaimer: I own the major part of everything that is shown here. The only thing I do not own is William Wong. He was created by Detective Gemini. Also, I would like to announce that we are now officially at one-third through the whole story in terms of chapters, and at one-half of the story, considering the number of completed arcs.

This chapter concludes Arc 5. This is the checkpoint. When this chapter ends, the story has flipped to the next page. There will still be new characters and situations based on science-fiction classics, but the shadowy points of the story are going to appear and the whole plot will slowly wrap up. Have fun in what might be one of the last less-serious chapters. Because past this one, things are really going to go at a higher scale.

* * *

Arc 5: Avengers, Part 3

It happened in a flash; milliseconds before the bullet had hit Kevin, the teenager had begun glowing, with a blue aura surrounding him. The bullet stopped as if it had hit a bulletproof glass, and fell to the ground. Kathy was wide-eyed.

"Kevin! What`s going on?" she asked.

"Um… It`s really not time for me to explain it, but we`ll see after the battle. Now, just enjoy the show," Kevin said. He stared at Anger, who was ready to pull a whole arsenal of firearms against the teenager. Now, Kevin was facing six cannons pointed toward him. "So, you are Trigger Happy, aren`t you?" Kevin said. "Soon, you will be Trigger SORRY!" As if it had understood the expression, Anger began shooting in a frenzied manner toward Kevin, and fast enough to empty every single barrel the robot had on itself, but Kevin created a force shield and every bullet bounced off. Anger tried to pull the trigger on one of its guns… but all that happened was a click. Nothing came out from the mortal weapon. It tried to press the trigger again, this time on a different weapon, but once again, nothing happened aside from the onomatopoeia. Anger was now trying different of its weapons in a comical way, even trying to pull the trigger while pointing the weapon to its own head. If this had been a comic, the robot would have had question marks all over its head. Kevin chuckled. "Here`s a tip, mister roboto. Never, I repeat, NEVER use all your tricks too early."

That`s when Anger revealed he had used all its weapons… but two more showed up, sadly, and soon Kevin was facing two new weapons. It was of a quite high caliber, as Kevin could see.

"Kevin, careful!" Kathy said.

"Thanks, Kathy, I hadn`t guessed," Kevin sarcastically replied. Anger shot, and suddenly everything went into slow-motion. Kevin bent in a limbo move until he was low enough to avoid all the bullets. Sadly, he was losing balance, so he raised his face just a little bit, and one of the bullets passed so close that Kevin could feel a cold breeze from the deadly tiny object. Now that wasn`t only close, that had almost left a bleeding injury. He had seen that avoiding technique in a movie; he never thought it would work.

But this time, Anger was seemingly without any means to defend itself. Kevin chuckled. "It`s almost as if it was one down."

Batara calculated the situation. He and Bertha were totally underpowered in front of Revenge. It was now trying to cause damage with a baseball bat. "It`s impossible to win against that robot of mass destruction!" Bertha said. "I`m bruised from my head to my toes, my moral is at the lowest, and I think I`ll soon hit a major psycho-neurosis!"

"Keep battling, Bertha!" Batara said. "We can defeat Revenge! I made sure Anger, Sorrow and Revenge wouldn`t be as powerful as their leader Despair!" He avoided a hit from a fist ornamented with a spiky item. Batara looked to where a strange glowing light was coming from. "Kevin," he thought, "I know it`s you. I hope you come to help us soon." The island was quite big, but Kevin`s aura was so bright that it could be seen everywhere.

William was still sparring with Despair when the aura appeared. "The flip?" he said, lowering his guard… and he got punched by Despair. Despair was now attacking with its swords and its sabers, while William tried to spar with his harpoon gun. He was really hoping Despair would stop attacking soon.

On his side, Kevin was about to defeat Anger. But the gunslinger robot revealed something it had kept hidden since the beginning. The top of its head opened up and revealed something that looked again like a gun. Kevin looked with surprise to the new weapon revealed to him. "I wonder what this shoots, it isn`t any type of normal gun…" he thought. The weapon began glowing of a bright green light at the tip of its cannon, apparently charging up power, and then shot toward Kevin. "Daaaaaang!" Kevin said, as he hit the attack with his arm, and it flew off toward the sky. "Is that all you have to offer?" Kevin said, smirking. He approached Anger, and just by pressing his hands on the robot`s gray torso, it fell to the ground. Kevin jumped on Anger to make sure it wouldn`t get back on its feet, opened his arms wide, then smashed Anger`s head on both sides at the same time, thanks to some extreme strength coming from his powers. However, just as he destroyed Anger`s head, the three remaining Despair Brothers suddenly stopped their battle and walked toward Kevin.

Surprised by this strange happening, Bertha stepped back. "Um… Batara? What are they doing?"

"I see only one explanation," Batara said. "Seconds before Kevin defeated Anger, it sent a SOS message to its "brothers" through electromagnetic signals, like I mentioned earlier… now, Kevin is going to fight Despair, Sorrow and Revenge…"

"We should go help him then!" Bertha said, grabbing Batara by the arm and dragging him along as she ran to where the robots were joining up."

Despair was also leaving a panting William behind. "The walking, killing trash can! Where do you think you`re going?" William said, hoping that insult would bring Despair again to battle the security operator.

Michael and Michelle soon noticed they were not chased by Sorrow anymore. "Are we safe?"

"I think so…" Michelle said. "It isn`t following us anymore."

"Then, let`s pick the remaining pieces!" Michael said, as he and Michelle hurried to where the pieces of the sphere were, picked them all up, and ran toward the jets they used for the trip.

Kevin looked around him. There were now three more robots approaching; he could recognize Despair among them. The two others certainly were Sorrow and Revenge. That was going to be an epic fight. "Kathy, I think you should run away," Kevin told his rival. She had already done that, though, as she wasn`t near him anymore. She probably ran away after Anger revealed his plasma cannon. Kevin cracked his knuckles. "Okay, so who goes first? Don`t worry, everyone will get their fair share of defeat!"

Despair arrived first. The robot began by using the swords in its feet, pointing them toward Kevin. When the swords were about to touch the teenager, he jumped, and landed on the sword, at the same time mimicking something he had seen in a movie. He jumped again, landed behind Despair, grabbed the great robot by the head, lifted it with no problem despite its heavy weight, and spun it around just as Sorrow and Revenge were coming. After gaining enough speed in spinning, Kevin released his grip on Despair`s head and the tall robot was thrown toward Revenge. Both robots hit with a clank, and fell to the ground. But Sorrow was still up. It attacked with its halberd, spinning it in circular motion. Kevin grabbed the weapon`s chain, stopping its movement, and ripped off both the weapon and Sorrow`s arm. "You think you are a challenge for me?" Kevin teased. "You are as dangerous as a chewed piece of gum! And you`re just as annoying."

Despair and Revenge got up, and aimed for Kevin. This time, however, they were planning to use all their weapons at once. And they began attacking with over twenty weapons, all at once.

Kevin was now assaulted everywhere, it was impossible to avoid all those hits. He was able to use his own force shields on some parts of his body so that the hits wouldn`t injure him, but this time, he knew there were some hits that would reach him anyway. He just couldn`t generate shields everywhere on him. As the robots continued their assaults on him, they were soon joined by Sorrow. Now, Kevin was sparring against nearly thirty weapons. He had a lot of scratches, even though the robots were attacking hard enough to kill. That means he was still somewhat protected despite all that.

"I`d take some help guys!" Kevin said, as he saw Batara, Bertha, William, Michael and Michelle who were scurrying to where the robots had joined. "Please… help?"

"I`ll help you, kid!" William said, running to Despair, and he conked the tall robot on the head with his harpoon gun. Despair faced that opponent he had already fought minutes ago and decided to concentrate on him instead, or else they would never defeat that red-shirted child. Despair turned to his wheeled form, which was easy since it was already turning back to William, and began rolling.

William threw himself out of the way, also dropping his harpoon gun. Kathy picked it up. "COMING TO YOUR HELP KEVIN!"

Kevin was still getting assaulted by a great number of weapons at once; plus his open scars were bleeding. He was scarred everywhere because of the weapons. Sorrow and Revenge were too busy with Kevin to think about anyone else, so when Kathy pushed Sorrow away with the harpoon gun, it came out as a surprise. Also, Revenge decided to rather aim for Kathy, as Sorrow sent a SOS signal to the Despair Brother closest to itself. But Kevin was not going to let Revenge do that. From his blue aura appeared some kind of aura string that Kevin threw toward Revenge like a whip, and used this extension to drag it back to him. "Don`t. Touch. Her." Kevin`s free hand began glowing of a fiery red light. As soon as Revenge got close enough to Kevin thanks to being pulled back with the aura prolongation, Kevin punched through Revenge`s head with his red-aura hand. The fist broke through Revenge`s face, destroyed a lot of circuits inside the robot`s head, and even went through. Kevin himself was amazed that he could do that. When he pulled his fist out of Revenge`s head, he simply touched it with his index finger, and the robot fell backwards to the ground. There were pieces of its eyes and nose around the place where its feet were standing.

"HELP, KEV!" Kathy yelled.

"Shouldn`t we help them?" Michelle said.

"No… we really should look at the fight. Kevin looks like he is going to defeat them all by himself," Bertha theorized.

"Just do anyone knows where that power comes from?" Michael asked.

"I don`t know," Batara answered. "…but I know one thing for sure. It shows up only when he is in danger of death. That means as long as he will be endangered, he will have his power. But that also means that once danger is gone, Power Kevin will just be back as Normal Kevin."

"Who could have caused that?" Bertha asked. "It`s creepy."

"I don`t know, again. But one thing for sure, whatever wants him alive isn`t human if it can give Kevin such a paranormal strength."

Just then, Kevin had caught up to Sorrow. The robot was about to use its weapons on Kathy. Kevin teleported between Kathy and Sorrow, he was now receiving the hits, but he was also saving her from fatal wounds. "I`ll… help you… Kat…." He said. Now he was badly injured, although from behind him she could see some open wounds that were already healing up at a superhuman speed.

Kevin grabbed the robot by the abdomen, even though there was no way to grip it that way. In fact, Kevin`s hand dug into the metallic shell and it resulted into some kind of handle. Kevin lifted Sorrow off the ground thanks to the newly-made handle, spun it so that he was now grabbing it upside-down, then he hammered Sorrow to the ground, effectively destroying all the circuits in the ancient weapons-themed robot.

"…Thanks, Kevin," Kathy said.

"That was piece of cake, Kathy!" Kevin said smiling. His scars were closing up, leaving no trace, as if they had never existed. Just as Kevin had defeated Sorrow, his blue aura disappeared, and he was suddenly returned to his normal self. "Huh? What happened to your aura, Kev?"

"I won. That`s what happened. Wait… where`s Despair?" the teenager asked.

"Hey everyone, I have some good news," William said, arriving all of a sudden. "I was battling Despair, I lured it into a trap, and it banged its head on a Moai. It destroyed most of what was inside its head."

"Good! The four Despair Brothers are destroyed," Batara said. "Don`t we have two other enemies left?"

Just then, Veronica Vallieres came in the conversation. She was holding the remnants of a once-cute ROMIS. It was now a mess worse than an uncaring teenager`s room.

"We also defeated our opponents. Apparently I destroyed R3`s circuits with ROMIS` body. That means we won, right?"

"Yes," Batara said. "Where is Hyeronimus, by the way?"

"I brought him to the jets, he`s badly injured."

"Well, he`s lucky you concentrate on medical sciences, huh?" William replied. "I bet he`ll be top-shape tomorrow."

But then, something strange happened. The same alien ship as the Trio had seen during their fight with Apocalypsenior landed on the island. The blowback from the landing was enough to throw all the humans to the ground. The alien spaceship opened, revealing again the extraterrestrial – what was its name already? Kalim? The alien leader stepped out. End-of-World and Armageddon were soon following. The two younger extraterrestrials ran toward the jets, where Michael and Michelle had taken the Sphere`s pieces to, and picked them up.

"Hey!" What the hey do you think you are doing, you two?" Kevin said. "We just prevented the destruction of our planet by that stupid technology of yours!"

Kalim walked to the gang. "He" (because of the alien`s manly voice) stopped right in front of Kevin. "Yes. I know. And do I seem to even care?" He pushed Kevin out of the way, walked to the pieces, and picked the last two remaining pieces.

"You`re not going to undo everything we have done, are you?" Bertha said. "We risked our lives to stop those robots!"

"I know that," Kalim replied. "But I don`t care. All I want is those six pieces. To prevent anyone else will again use them for a megalomaniac plan against your world." Armageddon and End-of-World had already stacked their pieces in Kalim`s spaceship. Kalim threw carelessly the two pieces he was holding onto his ship, and turned to the gang of heroes.

"I`ll make it clear again. This is the LAST time I`ll save your futile human lives. Next time, you might need to save your existence yourselves."

"Nice way to bend reality to your point of view, mysterious person," Veronica said. "You do know that we did absolutely everything, all you did was watch and act after we had defeated the enemy."

Kalim chuckled, or it sounded like an alien trying to chuckle, but it came out in a rather creepy way. "Because you think I did nothing? I locked the Sphere`s powers so that they wouldn`t activate! I am trying to save your world! And what do I get? Nothing. Why? Because I`m an alien." He removed his mask, revealing his true face. It was extremely ugly. In fact, Kalim looked like a humanoid reptilian. His head was covered with scales, had no hair, and his face was much bizarre as well; Kalim had two enormous yellow eyes and a mouth was slithering between the two eyes. Eight humans on the nine freaked out at the simple view of a species that had such a strange physiognomy. William, however, had seen way worse. "I knew it would have that effect on you. Don`t worry, we are also crept out by how everything is placed on your human faces. I guess I will be leaving now. Eow! Armag! We`re leaving!"

End-of-World and Armageddon, recognizing this as their shortened names, followed their leader to the spaceship. Then, when they were all in, the spaceship lifted off and disappeared in the sky, at light-speed.

"Well… that was something weird," Michelle said.

"But we saved the world, that`s all that counts," Batara said, smiling. He speed-dialed a number on his personal cell phone, then ported it to his ear. The familiar electronic voice of Fastos answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Fastos. I`ll be coming back soon."

"Good," Fastos replied. "Will you pass by the E.A.S.E. Island, Master?"

"No, I`ll come back right now. My friends must get back home."

"Understood, Master," Fastos ended. Batara closed his cell phone.

William speed-dialed the number of the E.A.S.E.`s Tactical Squad. "Hello. I need help. I am presently on Easter Island…" he gave the coordinates to the exact point he was at. "…I have six robots to bring back to the E.A.S.E., they are pretty heavy, I require everyone`s help. I`d use also a trip back to the E.A.S.E."

"Um, we can send you there, William," Veronica offered. Hyeronimus arrived just then, very injured, but still alive. "But don`t you have your jet already?"

William smirked. "I`d like to accept your offer, Vallieres. But I need to bring back those rogue robots to the Maximum Security Monster Prison."

"Okay," Batara said. "Guess I`ll be leaving now. Kevin, Michael, Kathy, Michelle, bertha, all aboard my private jet."

Life had taken back a normal flow for the heroes. After Kevin realized Kathy didn`t save him once but twice, he knew he had to thank her in some way. The following day, when he met up totally by luck with Kathy during lunch, he sat near her.

"You know, I was thinking of it… what would you like as a gift? …you know, since you saved me and all…"

Kathy took a bite off her sandwich. "You know, I was thinking about it too. I guess you didn`t know about the Fair held here in Three-Rivers on this time of the year? Maybe you could invite me there. That way, we`d spend quality time – and your debt would be paid."

"Not a bad idea," Kevin said. "But you better be careful however. I love the attractions that can make someone sick."

"So do I," Kathy said, smiling. "Let`s forget we are rivals for one day, and have fun for once, away from any dangerous thing."

"Agreed," Kevin finished. He saw Michael and Michelle approaching. They were smiling. "Don`t turn around Kathy, but I have a funny feeling Mike and Michelle are getting along well."

"I already guessed that long ago," Kathy whispered. She chuckled as Michelle and Michael sat near them.

"What`s up?" Michael said, putting on his table a plate full of food.

"Not much," Kevin said. He then spoke to his friend Michael and the two girls. "Say, apparently William`s Tactical Squad caught Oranic. They are putting him on trial, and Batara`s able to watch it from home, from what he told me in e-mail."

"So that`s why the satellite dish on his house`s roof is so huge!" Michelle said, laughing. Kathy laughed with her friend.

"I guess that since you two helped us thwarting his evil plan, you are invited," Michael said.

"Heh… why not?" Michelle answered.

"Count us in!" Kathy added.

"See you at 4, at the bus stop, then," Michael said.

It was about 4:30 PM. Batara turned on the television. He pressed a special button hidden on the remote control, and a black rectangle appeared, along with a flashing white line. He input a series of numbers on the rectangle, these numbers tuning to white dots as he tapped them, and when he tapped the last one, the channel changed to the E.A.S.E.`s secret channel, accessible through satellite. It was transmitted directly from the remote island, toward every house that has an antenna able to catch the transmission.

The system was not connected on the E.A.S.E.`s Courtroom, which was on a floor of the Tower. Batara knew that since many scientists had rivals working in the same organization. Thus, there were ways on the island for them to solve their little feuds; there was the Robo-Coliseum, which would let both scientists in control of a battle robot, and finish it into a battle of talent and wits, in which the winner would finally be determined. Batara should think about trying that against Oranic. However, when one scientist did something unacceptable against another scientist, the Courtroom was a way to solve everything that was in the domain of laws. Two or three science people were actually trying new ways to make the judiciary system work better in every country, by studying it, pointing out the major flaws as well as the downsides of many condemnations. Into this quest for justice, there would be winners, and losers. Those scientists dream of a world without injustice. It was impossible; not everyone can be punished the same way, after all. But their studies on every justice system of the world were slowly turning into a utopia.

Batara was thinking on how everything had some importance at the E.A.S.E. (except maybe `pataphysics), when the four teenagers arrived. "Yo Batara!" Kevin said.

"Hi, mister Byzlack," said the more reserved Michelle.

"Come in, come in. The trial has just begun."

Kevin and Kathy sat on a couch, Michael and Michelle sat on the other couch and Batara took the armchair. Fastos also watched the trial while dusting the furniture in the living room.

Oranic had a low face, on the seat of guilt. He knew that what he did was totally wrong and that it would have only served for world domination. Miyaru was the judge. He knew how everything worked at the E.A.S.E. and had enough logic and good sense to find a good condemnation.

The evidence was brought by the prosecutor. Oranic had no lawyer to contradict everything that was brought to the court. The Courtroom worked differently from a normal courtroom in Canada, or even in the United States; there was still a judge and a stand for witnesses and people directly linked to the case. There were also one prosecutor, whose only goal is to discern the truth no matter how deep it was hiding, and one "lawyer", who was not really a lawyer in himself. He was not being asked by an accused person to take his or her case; the E.A.S.E. had not enough troubles for this. He had to accept every case brought to him. His goal was to, of course, try to prove the defendant was innocent, but this time, however, could at any moment turn back when every single aspect of the case had been tested and heard, and the culpability of the defendant had been proved. In any case, the lawyer had to present evidence for or against the defendant. He also had to make all the logical links between the facts and the presented evidence. As for the prosecutor, he or she was also working on a similar way, but could help the lawyer into inspecting every aspect and try every scenario.

Of course, both the lawyer and the prosecutor were scientists of the law division of the organization. They had built themselves, with the help of the Eldest, the way the Courtroom worked. Although enemies in the Courtroom, they were rather good friends outside.

The official lawyer`s name was Victor Vonarburg. He was as trustworthy as a reliable best friend. He was like this to everyone. In his spare time, he was writing science-fiction short stories, often based on everyday life at the E.A.S.E. The prosecutor was a redheaded woman named Elisabeth Esposito. Very cunning and straight-to-the-point, of all her prosecution career she has never seen any case that ended with stones unturned and lies not uncovered. However, she also took her role so seriously that when she is on a case, she concentrates on this case only – anything that is not linked directly to the case at hand was then useless, unless the subject came back later thanks to a piece of evidence. She liked music, mostly the soft sounds of harmonica and accordion.

Victor presented the first piece of evidence, the liquid found inside the Maximum Security Monster Prison. The tests made by Miyaru Shigemoto proved without a single doubt that it was Oranic`s rejuvenating potion. This was found near the cages where were resting the four Despair Brothers.

The next piece of evidence was found in Oranic`s house, when the Tactical Squad entered the Elder`s house and found some form of helmet that would cover his ears and somehow make him deaf for the time he wore it, so he wouldn`t hear the beasts of the Maximum Security Monster Prison, and the "glasses" of the helmet were also changing Oranic`s view of the world to a peaceful one, so that he would not see the monsters but still know where he was going. These virtual reality generators were part of his plans from the beginning.

Pieces of evidence paraded in front of a defenseless Oranic, and all he could claim was that he was guilty of a crime against humanity. The trial did not last very long. The great blow delivered to Oranic was when Victor revealed the reason for which Oranic has tried again to destroy the world, thanks to a piece of evidence. Oranic sobbed and morally broke when it was revealed. However, nobody could see the picture (those stupid surveillance cameras couldn`t show the Courtroom any better, and thus the picture was hidden to the eyes of Batara, Kevin, Kathy, Michael, Michelle and Fastos). Batara had a small idea of what was the picture, but it was far in his memory, and he didn`t want to talk about it.

Finally Oranic was sentenced to follow a therapy, which would maybe help him against his desire to destroy the world. It would be paid by the organization itself. The therapies would last as long as Oranic would not be normal mentally. The E.A.S.E. was of course agreeing to punish any scientist who had committed a terrible crime; but they were against death penalty, studies having proven it was totally useless, but there was no such thing as a prison on the remote island, and nowhere to send the sentenced scientists to. It was too dangerous to put them all together; they would eventually help each other and find a way to get out all together and wreak havoc all together.

Batara turned off the television. Next time he`d turn it on, however, the channel would be returned to a normal TV channel.

"That was boring!" Kevin criticized. "I almost fell asleep!"

"I found it good," Kathy said. "I mean… it`s not everyday you see one of the world`s most dangerous criminals tried for what he did!"

"Wait… isn`t INTERPOL meddling into this, if Oranic is a world-class criminal?" Michelle said.

"I haven`t been informed of that. You know, the scientist organization is holding a great deal of secrets. I guess they also hide their interactions with the international police."

The teenagers left, with Batara wishing them to see them soon.

Kevin was now being dragged to the Spring Fair. By Kathy, nonetheless. "You said you`d owe me a favor if I saved you, then you are gonna pay that favor here!"

"But… but!" Kevin said.

"No "but", Kev. A promise is a promise."

Kevin sighed. "Yeah, you`re right. I`m a man of honor. Let`s go."

He paid for his ticket, then offered to pay for Kathy`s ticket, as part of his debt to her. The firs thing they saw was a giant Ferris wheel.

"This!" Kathy said.

"No, I`m more feeling for this!" Kevin said, pointing to a pendulum attraction that held sixteen seats in a square pattern at the end of its balancing part. The pendulum was slowly gaining height all while spinning, which caused some visitors to scream when they were facing toward the ground that was getting increasingly further, then coming back as the pendulum went the other way, this time causing the visitors in front of them to scream instead.

"Kevin, can`t we decide to alternate the decisions?" Kathy asked. "Like, I pick the first, you pick the second, I pick the third, you pick the fourth, I pick the fifth, and you pick the sixth…"

"Fine by me…" And before he could realize it, Kathy`s hand had gripped his wrist and was dragging him to the Ferris wheel.

Kathy knew when the rides would begin working, so she made sure to arrive around that time, so that the waiting lines wouldn`t be too long. That way they could enjoy much more rides than the visitors who arrive during the evening.

The line moved fast, and after only ten minutes of wait, Kevin and Kathy embarked in a pod. They slowly began rising along the circumference of the wheel`s circle. They looked around.

"To think they repaired the Hippodrome`s site," Kevin said, "in such a fast time!"

"You remember, Kev, when we were in that robot building, don`t you? I bet you do."

"Yeah… and meeting you in there was one of the best lucky encounters I had in my life. I mean, you really helped me greatly."

"Now you admit it."

"…just like you helped us the other day, against those robots…" Kevin added.

"You did all the work. You destroyed the four most dangerous ones. I did almost nothing. But tell me, those powers you revealed again… do you just know how or why it happens?"

"Believe me, if I knew, I`d have told you. I`m either not intelligent enough yet to know, or He - or Those - who give me these powers don`t want to tell me. Even if they did, I`m pretty sure I wouldn`t understand."

"Don`t worry about that, Kev. Trust me, if that`s gonna save you from most dangers, you better not ask questions and just go along with your instincts… and use these weird powers to your full potential when you get them. Not stop thinking and enjoy the view."

They were on the highest the Ferris wheel could let them. They could see the whole higher Three-Rivers, from the hospital to both pavilions of Three-Rivers College. By looking toward the ground, Kevin looked through the growing crowd of visitors and saw two blonde teenagers. For a split second, he wondered whether these two were Michael and Michelle, or another couples among the hundreds of student couples in Sainte-Esperance High School.

"It`s a good thing Michael isn`t here, he`d freak out. He got vertigo. Anyway… while I think of it… this day is a break, but when it`s over, we get back to being rivals, okay Kat?" Kevin said.

"Sure. I won`t mind trying to be better than you again. However, you gotta admit you don`t dislike having me around."

"You know what? You`re right," Kevin finished.

* * *

Author`s notes: I am gladly announcing, once again, the end of Arc 5. Halfway through the writing of chapter 11, Arc 5 Part 2, I had a major writer`s block. However, it seems like all this has been solved. I completed chapter 12 in under a week! Hurray for that.

I hopw you liked this arc, because it was fun writing. I really enjoyed writing a battle that occured between over ten enemies. They were fifteen, if I recall. Anyway, I might take a short break between this and arc 6. I plan on trying to find somewhere I could send Arcs 1 to 5 to, so that it can be made into a novel. I intend it to be some sort of trilogy, with Book 1 holding arcs 1 to 5, book 2 arcs 6 to 8, and book 3 holding the two last arcs. But we`ll see; after all, I should not skip steps. So I have to begin by Arc 6. I hope you will enjoy it, because it will be a hot ride through terror, and a new kind of opponent unseen till now.

Have a nice day, read you soon, and keep smiling!


	13. Arc 6: Mutation, part 1

Author`s notes: Another arc begins. Things really heat up (no pun intended with the theme of this arc...) now. Expect darker themes, more dangerous opponents, and of course... lots of action!

Have fun reading, and don`t forget to drop a review! I eat them for dessert, and I just finished eating dinner.

* * *

Arc 6: Mutation, part 1

"Get out of here! It`s not safe! Get away if you want to live!" someone yelled through the flames. What was going on? No one knew… except the Trio Robots.

It was in July 2050. They were in Montreal. Batara had a conference to watch about the amount of mutagen substances that have been found in the waters. It was greater than anywhere else in Quebec. Since Batara had an ecological mind and wanted to inform himself on what he studies among other things, he went to see this. As for Kevin and Michael, they followed because they both wanted to spend some quality time in La Ronde amusement park. Batara accepted to pay them tickets to the renowned park. However, the small scientist had noticed the Killon ship they had seen two months ago on Easter Island.

Kalim, the Killons` army general, said he did not want to interfere with the human world, unless there is a danger Earth could be destroyed. As such, Batara had the very bad feeling that something awful was going to happen soon. He feared the worst when newsflashes on TV spoke about a gang of strange, masked humanoids wearing space-like gear were invading a zoo with no known motives yet. The Trio rushed there to find nothing less than a zoo in flames, with Killon members opening cages to free animals, while Kalim was yelling orders to them in their home language (because it sounded like nothing existing on Earth), and general mayhem. What were they going to do?

There were animals everywhere. Michael, who had a fear of dangerous animals ever since a lion growled at a few inches of his face when he visited a zoo while he was a toddler, was unable to help. Kevin was trying his best, but it was still difficult to battle Killons when safari animals were rushing everywhere. Strange thing however, the animals weren`t attacking neither the humans nor the aliens; they were too scared of the fire. The Killons were burning down the place. Why? It was impossible to ask the general. He was too busy screaming orders.

Even weirder, the aliens were attacking the animals. As if they wanted to kill them. Why? Nobody could know that. However, Batara looked around and remembered something he had heard during the conference… the person speaking revealed a map of Montreal and the locations where there was the greatest amount of mutagen substances were coloured in green – and the small river near this zoo was one of those places. Maybe the aliens saw it as a danger – maybe the animals would reach the river and mutate… after becoming such monsters, they would be even more dangerous than before. As such, they were killing down all these animals to avoid infection. That was only a theory made up on the spot, though. The Trio was too busy to think thoroughly about it.

One of the soldiers was annoyed by Kevin, and was now trying to harm him with his laser gun.

"Can`t touch me!" Kevin said, avoiding the shots.

The Killon soldier would have growled if he could. The soldier closed his monstrous eyes behind his mask and shot hazardously, hoping to aim right, but when he opened them again and saw through the small holes, he was mask to face with Kevin. The teenager kicked the soldier in the belly, making him drop his laser gun. Kevin picked it up.

"Hands behind the head! Don`t move!" the teenager said in a joking manner, pointing his gun to the soldier.

But the soldier was now trying to get his weapon back by running toward the teenager, so Kevin shot out of fear. The opponent was hit on the arm, and some strange purple liquid began pouring out. The soldier held his arm out of pain, and ran away. Kevin began wondering if what he had seen was smart… or illegal. He was also wondering if that purple stuff was Killon blood.

Batara and Michael were desperately trying to stop the mayhem… but nothing could be done. The animals were escaping. Batara called the E.A.S.E.

"William? We need help here! A LOT of help! We need your talent in tracking animals and creatures." He exposed the problem to his colleague. "So we need you to catch them with all your hunting gear and bring them back in the zoo!" He closed his cell phone. The mayhem was not ending. All they could do was run away while avoiding possible stampedes caused by hoards of freed animals. Batara had to gather Kevin and Michael, and get away from this place as fast as possible!

The harmed Killon, hoping to get some way to refresh his open wound, stumbled upon the small river surrounding the zoo. He was near a bridge. The Killon tried to gather some water in his hand and pass it over his wound. But it didn't help. A loud roar was then heard, the Killon turned around to see a lion that had a part of its fur... on fire! It had been burned along with the zoo! Clearly mad from being set ablaze like this, the lion jumped on the Killon, bit him, and then tried to jump over the river, but it couldn`t. This time, the Killon was dead. The lion saw a four-eyed frog near. Hungry more than angry, the lion jumped on the frog and ate it, then tried to pass by the bridge. But many other animals running amok had had the same idea, and soon the lion got in contact with many animals, and every time a contact like this happened, the lion was slightly glowing. After all the animals but the lion ran away, the lion galloped away. It was only an animal, and everything that had happened was difficult to understand.

After most of he animals had escaped or had been killed by the aliens, they embarked in the ship and left without any goodbyes. The place was still flaming. Batara decided to leave the place with his friends. There was nothing they could do. He hurried to find Kevin and Michael. He finally found them. Kevin was presenting a quite strange weapon to the blonde teenager.

"Kev, Mike, we should go back to the hotel. We`ll see tomorrow if William has succeeded in his task to catch all freed animals."

"Batara… do you KNOW what`s been going on here?" Kevin asked, clearly clueless.

"I`ll explain after we get info from William. Let`s get back to the hotel."

The Trio didn`t sleep well that night. The hotel bedroom had only two beds, but it also had a couch. After much nice arguing, Batara decided to sleep on the couch, leaving one bed for each. But their night was filled with nightmares from what had happened. Aliens plus animals plus mutations equals nothing good.

The next morning, as they were getting ready for the day, Batara`s cell phone rung. It was William Wilhelm Wong.

"Batara, we need you on the crime scene immediately!" he said with a panicked tone.

"I thought you were never scared, William…" Batara said, kidding.

"I am never scared. I just need you back at the zoo as fast as possible; I might have some clues on what has happened."

"Uh, fine." Batara closed his cell phone and turned to his friends. "Guys, we are going back to the zoo."

"What? Are you crazy?" Michael said. "With all those animals, I almost died of a heart attack caused by fear! You know I have an extreme fear of big animals."

"William said they were almost all back in their cages. Only a few animals were still in the wild, but the many members of his Tactical Squad were already trying to catch them."

"Do they have weapons good enough to catch the beasts?" Kevin said.

"Listen, Kev…" Batara said. "William has a lot of tasks to do. First, he watches over all the island`s security cameras. In the evening, he goes through the maximum security monster prison to put them to sleep…"

"Why?" Michael asked. "It doesn`t seem to make sense."

"…because we never know when they might escape. William has to sleep like everyone, and who knows if something bad happens. Remember what happened last time he lowered his guard."

Kevin and Michael remembered just too well. Oranic had stolen the key to the prison, and had freed the four Despair Brothers as well as two other vengeance-led machines.

"…William is also the leader of the E.A.S.E.`s Tactical Squad, which has many uses. For one, it is used to stop monsters created from science and bring them in the prison. This includes dangerous robots. Any time something extremely weird or dangerous, they are called. Here, I asked his help to catch the freed animals and get them back in their cages. He is used to hunting monsters of all kinds. Normal animals shouldn`t be too big of a deal, at least to him."

"I think we should get going," Michael said. "Let`s get this out of the way."

"Yeah…" Kevin said, looking again at a picture frame he had placed on the bedside table near the bed he used. He sighed and prepared his backpack to leave.

The team arrived soon to the crime scene. What they found there was a desolate wasted zoo with smoke coming from everywhere. All the most dangerous animals now looked pitiful from the pain they suffered. Two members of the Tactical Squad, a man and a woman, were directing a sleepy male bear toward his cage. A crocodile, which had been tranquilized with darts, was also being dragged to the pond by another member of the squad. William was holding a list of all the animals, given to him by the owner, and he was counting the number of members for every species. "Three bears, the mother, the father and the baby… twelve penguins in the fake ice environment… Two antelopes… A lion - huh?" William was now in front of the lion`s cage. "Where is it? Did you find it?" he asked one Squad member.

"No, we didn`t. We roamed Montreal with helicopters and cars and we found nothing at all," William`s employee assured. "We really looked everywhere."

"Where is it, damn?" William yelled.

"Hey, Will," Batara said. "You asked us here?"

"Yeah," Batara`s colleague said. "We could repair everything we could, and we could also find most of the animals. But I fear the worst. Mostly from what I`m going to show you." He walked to some secluded part of the zoo. The Trio followed him. What they saw there was horrible. The nearly decapitated body of a Killon was resting there, with some purple blood leaking out of the open wounds. Michael felt like throwing up just by seeing that, but Batara had seen much worse. As for Kevin, he was once again trying to act like a tough guy, although the vision of this alien corpse was still very disgusting. The mask was removed. The two lifeless eyes weren`t moving at all, and the mouth was closed.

"It`s a Killon body!" Batara said.

"Perceptive, aren`t you?" William replied. "We found this body lying near the water. We suppose it was an already mortally wounded extraterrestrial who tried to found a way to heal as he was on his weakest, and the escaping lion tried to eat a piece of him. This just killed the alien once and for all."

Kevin looked around innocently. He remembered the laser ray he had stolen and used on that same extraterrestrial. Michael chose to instead look at the nearby penguins instead of taking a look at a biological class about a creature from outer space.

"Are you sure it`s what caused that alien`s death?" Kevin asked.

"Affirmative. Look at that part of the spacesuit," William said, pointing to a hole in the suit. "Look, the ray has pierced through and left burns around the wound. I know no weapon on Earth that can do that. I mean, it almost totally pierced through, and it also greatly burned around the injury."

"I see…" Batara said. He was slowly starting to feel like Michael, and even Kevin was feeling less heroic.

"How can you stand looking at that, man?" Kevin said. "It`s yucky!"

"Nothing scares me or creeps me out…" William said. "My only fear is that something gets freed the E.A.S.E.`s monster prison. Last time it happened, and it almost cost us our planet."

"Is that everything you had to tell us?" Michael said, looking at the penguins.

"Yes, it`s everything. We`ll be searching around for that lion for another twenty-four hours, and if we find nothing, we`ll just give up. I have other things to do."

"Hey guys!" a feminine voice said behind them. That voice, they all knew it just too well. It was Kathy Kingsley, who they knew since almost a year already. Kevin and she had met during many random encounters, both thinking the other was a spy working for an organization of some kind. Those many encounters were almost always fierce battles – or a friendly rivalry at least. Maybe Kathy was slowly having feelings for the red-shirted teenager, but if she did, she certainly wasn`t going to show it. A woman`s pride, most certainly. Kathy was accompanied of Michelle Morin and Bertha Beaulieu, her two best friends. Together they formed some sort of Trio, only with girls who are all better than the main heroes on at least one aspect of their personalities. Kathy was smarter than Kevin. Michelle was braver than Michael. And Bertha was much taller than Batara.

The real mystery here wasn`t how they got there at that time, it`s why they were here now.

"Why are you three here?" Batara asked. "Tagging along with us?"

"Yeah, we stuck some sort of tracker under your car and we followed you all the way to Montreal," Bertha joked. "No, seriously, I am here to follow conferences about mutations."

"Were you there two days ago?" Kevin asked. "Boy was that conference boring."

"We were, and I actually found it very interesting," Kathy replied. By the greatest of luck, we learned of the zoo that had been burning on TV. It was quite impressive. Mostly when the owner spoke about aliens and animals being freed…"

"When they spoke about aliens, we knew it was our old friends Kalim and his team of aliens."

"Hey guys!" William said from behind. He was fiddling with the alien corpse like a coroner would do with a murdered person to try and find the reason of death.

"What?" Batara asked.

"Those aliens got the heart and the brain switched inside the body!"

"I didn`t need to know that!" Michael said, trying really hard not to vomit from that statement.

"Not funny dude," Kevin commented.

"That could be some useful information," Michelle said.

"We should leave now," Batara said, clearly uncomfortable with the very recent discovery of a Killon`s biology. "I have conferences to prepare for. Now that our little visit to the zoo is over, we should flip the page and start writing the next part of our story, shouldn`t we?"

"Yeah…" Kevin and Michael said, leaving with their scientist friend. The three girls just stood there, speechless. They turned to William, who was trying to uncover more secrets that could be useful in a fight against those extraterrestrials, and looked at the corpse.

"I don`t think it is THAT disgusting," Bertha said.

"You say that now, but wait till you venture in the monster prison," William said in a smirk.

The Trio arrived at the hotel room. They didn`t have much to do today. No conference or anything. Kevin was feeling sort of down however. He looked again at the picture he had brought with him in a frame and sighed. Batara noticed that.

"Who is that man in the frame?" the scientist asked.

"It`s my father, Karl Kartner," Kevin answered. "It`s been over two years since he left. I miss him, and at this time of the year, I always feel real bad when I thik about the happy days when I had my dad around… what`s it called already?"

"Um, melancholy?" Batara suggested.

"Yeah, that kind of thing," the brown-haired teenager replied. "Anyway, I miss him so much."

Batara looked at the picture closely. He recognized what could have been an American fireman's uniform. "What was he an employee of?"

"I think the name was… Montpelier Fire Station… I`m not really sure anymore. It`s been a while…"

"Just what happened exactly?" Michael asked.

Kevin began explaining.

Flashback

"Dear, I`m home!" the fireman said as he entered the house. He closed the door lightly behind him. "Work was so great today!" He added while removing his helmet. He had small burns everywhere.

"What was so great today, Karl?" Kevin`s mom said, as she was preparing dinner in the kitchen. It was almost 6 o`clock in the evening, Kevin was back from elementary school. He was in his bedroom, playing a videogame on a handheld console, when he heard his father`s deep voice. He ran to the kitchen, where both his parents were.

"Daddy!" Kevin said, going to hug his father.

"Kevin! How are you doing, my little man?"

"School was boring today!" the eleven years old Kevin said.

"I think you have something to show to your father, don`t you Kevin?" the kid`s mother Kathryn reminded him. "Didn`t you tell me you had received the report card today? Show your father your grades."

Kevin ran in his bedroom, came back with his backpack, searched in it and finally found the report card. "Here, daddy."

Kathryn Kartner stopped looking just a bit at what she was cooking and went to check the report card with her spouse. The notes were a catastrophe. They were all very low: from B minuses to Ds. It was really awful.

"I am a bit disappointed, son," Karl said. "You do know that it is with a great report card that you get a great future."

"Your father is right," Kathryn added. "You should really be careful in class."

"Aaaaaw!" Kevin began. "But – but the teacher is so boring! I want to nap on the desk! All day long! I feel sleepy all day!"

"You should really concentrate, Kev," Karl answered. "If you are sleepy in class, go to bed earlier."

"But-but I already go to bed at 8 every night!" Kevin claimed. "I can`t go sleep earlier than that!"

"I agree with your father, Kevin. If that`s what you need, you can go to sleep at seven thirty instead of eight like as usual," Kathryn added. Kathryn and Karl always agreed on everything, did they?

However, the meatball Kathryn was cooking for tonight`s meal – which was hamburgers – began burning in the frying pan, causing the heated flavour to reach the smoke alarm and set it on. The unlikeable sound reached the whole family`s ears, causing them to rush toward the screaming machine and make great gestures to create wind that would set it off. After the alarm stopped, Karl removed the pan from the stove.

"Honey, you do k now that you should have been checking the meat. I like hamburgers when they aren`t burnt too much."

"You see enough fire like that at work, I am sorry," Kathryn admitted.

Kevin ran to his chair in the dining room, and sat. "I am hungry, I want my burger!"

He waited almost five minutes before his dinner finally arrived in front of him. He poured a dose of ketchup between the meatball and a slice of bread, and spread some mustard on the other side. He began eating as his parents also sat around the table.

Kathryn and Karl spoke of money among other things, during the meal. Karl complained that he was not paid enough for his dangerous work, and so on Kathryn complained that Karl`s clothes, mostly his uniform, were stinking of smoke each time he came back from work. Kevin didn`t seem to care much. He took bites of his hamburger until it was gone into his mouth, and then attacked his fries. Once his plate was empty, he went to get a few cookies in the wardrobe in the kitchen. His parents kept chatting in the dining room, but Kevin was already zooming back to his bedroom to play videogames. He could hear them from his bedroom. The conversation was louder than usual, but it probably was nothing bad. Unsure of what to do, Kevin decided to put his headphones on and listened to some music.

About an hour later, Kevin was getting ready for the night. He was sitting on his bed, "mentally" preparing for a great night of sleep. He finished putting his pyjama shirt when his father, who was still in his fireman uniform.

"Son? Are you asleep yet?" Karl asked.

"No daddy, you can come in."

Karl entered. He was not happy. "Son, I have some slight bad news for you…"

"What?" Kevin asked, totally clueless.

Karl searched for a way to explain the situation to his son. "Kevin, tonight I have to go back to work. I have been called; I need to go back to the casern. Apparently there has been a big fire somewhere in our city. I have to go help the other firemen extinguish it."

"I didn`t hear your phone, daddy…" Kevin said.

"Um… it was… on vibration mode. Yes, that`s why you didn`t hear it. Anyway son, I hope to get out of it alive. Whatever happens, believe in my return. I hope to be back as soon as I can. Now, go to sleep, and don`t worry about me."

"Okay dad," Kevin said, getting under the covers.

"Good night son," Karl said, turning off the light behind him. Kevin slowly drifted off to sleep.

End flashback

"Last thing I knew the next morning, my father still wasn`t back home. Ever since that day, I am worried that I`ll never see him again."

"Wait… report card? Didn`t you say it`s been two years? It would be in July, and we have no school in July. How would you even have a report card?" Michael pointed out.

"He left somewhere around February, maybe March. I grow sad around this time of the year because my birthday is in August and I keep thinking he`ll never see me grow up… That`s why. Any other question?"

"Oh, Kevin, I think I found out what happened instead…" Batara said. "Remove your pink glasses."

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked.

"You are seeing life better than it is. You don`t want to see the truth. You are too positive in what you told us. I fear reality is much worse than that…"

"Are… are you sure?" Kevin said.

"Yeah!" Michael added. "I don`t know if you noticed, but many things in your story make no sense. Batara and I spotted some parts that were totally wrong in your souvenirs…"

"Here`s the truth, Kev," Batara said. "But it might hurt you to know it… your parents divorced, that`s what really happened."

Kevin went wide-eyed and tore up. "No… it can`t be true!"

"Within two years, you could certainly end up believing it was actually something normal, or your father just vanished all of a sudden… But I don`t believe that`s what happened. In fact, here is my supposition… both your mother and your father were trying to hide their couple problems when you were around. I guess they didn`t want you to worry."

Kevin tore up. "No… you can`t be telling the truth. It`s impossible!"

"…and when they got into a huge argument, right after dinner, they decided it was better if they weren`t living together anymore. And so, your father decided it was time for him to go away."

"Batara… you shouldn`t tell him the whole truth just now. He`s already broken enough from the revelations. Look out, he`s crying so much he`s gonna drown us!" Michael said.

Kevin, trying to find a way to avoid the news that was being thrown to him, turned on the television. Pictures of a flaming street succeeded to a news reader.

"This suspect fire on Sunnyside Street is being investigated. The fire apparently began in the Hawk Mansion, and then spread to both apartment buildings on each side. The firemen are trying to extinguish it. Luckily, due to these apartments being unoccupied and the manor being abandoned since many years, nobody has been killed or injured at all by the blaze. The firemen had to call the nearby cities` firemen institutions to prevent the propagation of the disaster."

The pictures were all too terrible to be seen. A fireman was coming out of the blaze. We could not see his face as it was hidden by his helmet. The picture changed to a fireman, maybe the chief. He was being interviewed by a journalist.

"It is the most dangerous fire I have ever seen. As if it wasn`t enough, the members of the team have reported sightings of extremely bizarre objects in the Hawk Mansion, and they also felt like there were many weird beings living in there. We assume it was rats or another pest, but we are not exterminators, our only work is to douse this fire. But one or two of my men say they have met one very dangerous creature in there…"

"What did it look like?" the reporter asked. The Trio could recognize Sophie Smith`s voice. This reporter who disliked children, but was totally interested in celebrities, might they be from jet-set, music or science. She was always happy to interview Batara Byzlack. As for Kevin and Michael, it was a totally different thing. She expressed disdain toward them.

"It was described as some sort of big animals… some say it has wings, other say it has a tail…and some say it is breathing fire… I think the high temperature has reached their brain or they forgot to put on their helmets, or something like that… we consider it now dangerous to enter this inferno."

"Thank you mister-"Sophie Smith began, but Batara turned off the television before the name was said.

"Sounds like the Killons are at it again…"

"What about the creature they are talking about?" Michael asked.

"I don`t know, we`d better go get check that out. Kevin?" Batara said, turning to his friend.

Kevin looked toward Batara. "What?"

"Are you in the mood for some adventure? That will blow your happiness back on track," Batara suggested. Kevin thought about it. He was not going to weep during the whole trip after all. He was not going to sadden both his friends with his personal problems. And he will help them much better if he is ready for action. They needed him, he wasn`t going to abandon them. Besides, some action will cheer him up.

"Okay… why not?" Kevin said. "Let`s go!"

* * *

Author`s notes: Once again, I invite you to review this high-temperature chapter. No flames please (no pun intended, again...). Read you soon with chapter 14!


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